;;;  PRINCETON.  N.   J.  ^ 

«i  Part  of  the  $ ; 

f  ADDlhON   ALEXANDER  LIBRAET,  ♦ 

jj.  winch  was  jjresented  bj'  f\ 

w  Messks.  U.  L.  AND  A.  Stuart.  \| 


#«^ 


U' 


SACRED  AND  PROFANE 

HISTORY   OF    THE   WORLD 
CONNECTED, 

FROM 

THE  CREATION  OF  THE  WORLD 

TO 

THE  DISSOLUTION  OF  THE  ASSYRIAN  EMPIRE  AT  THE  DEATH  OF 
SARDANAPALUS,  AND  TO  THE  DECLENSION  OF  THE   KING- 
DOMS OF  JUDAH  AND  ISRAEL,  UNDER  THE  REIGNS 
OF  AHAZ    AND   PEKAH  : 

THE  DISSERTATION  ON 

THE  CREATION  AND  FALL  OF  MAN. 


BY  SAMUEL  SHUCKFORD,  D.D. 

CHAPLAIN  IN  ORDINAUT  TO  HIS  MAJESTY,  GEORGE  THE  SECONIi, 

Revised,  Corrected,  and  Greatly  hnjjroved. 

BY  JAMES  CREIGHTON,  B.  A. 


FOUR    VOLUMES  IN  TWO. 

VOL.  HL 


THE  FIRST  AMERICAN,  FROM  THE  FIFTH  lONDON  ElllTION. 

Illustrated  loith  a  New  and  Correct  Set  of  Maps  and 
Plans,  and  an  Extensive  Index. 


THILADELPHIA : 

PUBLISHED  BY  WILLIAM  \Y.  WOODWARD, 

NO.  52,  SOUTH  SECOND  STREET, 

1824. 


THE  RIGHT  HONOURABLE 

LORD  VISCOUNT 
CHARLES   TOWNSHEND, 

BARON  OF  LYNN  REGIS.. 
KNIGHT  OF  THE  MOST  NOBLE  ORDER  OF  THE  GARTER,  &C. 

THIS  VOLUME 

IS 
MOST  HUMBLY  DEDICATED, 
BY  HIS  LORDSHIP'S 

MOST  OBEDIENT 

AND  MOST  HUMBLE  SERVANT, 

SAMUEL  SHUCKFORD 


P  R  E  F  A  Cm^miyCl-^:.-'' 


The  first  and  second  volumes  of  this  History,  whicli  I 
offered  some  years  ago  to  the  public,  so  fully  explain 
the  nature  and  design  of  my  undertaking,  that  there  is 
no  need  of  any  farther  account  of  it.  This  third  volume 
contains  the  Sacred  History  from  the  time  when  the 
Israelites  passed  the  Red  Sea  to  the  death  of  Joshua; 
and  I  have,  as  in  the  former  volumes,  made  sucli  obser- 
vations, as  I  thought  might  obviate  or  answer  objections 
or  difficulties  in  the  Scripture  accounts  of  some  facts  in 
those  times.  I  have  also  given  such  hints  of  the  heathen 
nations,  as  belong  to  this  period,  and  may  enable  me  to 
deduce  the  Profane  History  in  a  clear  light,  when  I  shall 
come  down  to  an  age,  which  may  afford  plenty  of  mate- 
rials for  a  relation  of  the  affairs  of  it. 

I  am  sensible  that  the  reader  may  expect  from  me 
some  account  of  the  Jewish  year,  which  he  will  not  find 
in  the  ensuing  volume.  If  the  Israelites,  when  they  came 
into  Canaan,  had  not  been  instructed  to  compute  such  a 
number  of  days  to  a  year,  as  might  come  very  nigh  to 
the  true  measure  of  it,  they  could  not  have  continued 
long  to  keep  their  set  feasts  in  their  proper  seasons.  The 
heathen  nations  had  as  yet  no  notion  of  the  year's  con- 
taining more  than  three  hundred  and  sixty  days."*  But 
such  a  year  falling  short  five  days,  and  almost  a  quarter 
pf  a  day  of  a  true  solar  revolution,  it  must  be  evident 
that  the  stated  feasts  of  Moses's  law,  if  they  had  been 
observed  in  a  course  of  such  years,  would  have  returned 
five  days  and  almost  a  quarter  of  a  day,  in  every  year, 
sooner  than  the  true  season  of  the  year  for  observing 
them  could  have  returned  with  them,  and  this  in  a  very 

"  See  Preface  to  vol.  i. 


6  PREFACE. 

few  years  must  have  brought  them  into  great  confusion.^ 
Moses  appointed  the  Passover  to  be  killed  and  eaten  on 
the  fourteenth  day  of  the  first  month  at  even."  On  the 
same  evening  they  began  to  eat  unleavened  bread/  and 
continued  eating  it  till  the  evening  of  the  one-and- 
tvventieth  day."  The  wave  sheaf  was  to  be  offered  on 
the  second  day  of  unleavened  bread. '^  Fifty  days  after,^ 
or  on  the  fifth  day  of  the  third  month,  two  wave  loaves 
were  to  be  offered  for  the  wheat  harvest ;''  and  on  the 
fifteenth  day  of  the  seventh  month,'  they  were  to  cele- 
brate their  ending  the  gathering  in  all  the  fruits  of  their 
land.*"  Moses  lived  almost  forty  years  after  his  giving 
the  Israelites  these  institutions.  Now  if  all  this  while 
three  hundred  and  sixty  days  had  been  computed  to  be 
a  year,  it  is  evident,  that  the  feasts  of  the  law  would  by 
this  time  have  gone  backwards  almost  two  hundred  and 
ten  days,  from  what  was  the  real  season  of  the  year,  at 
which  they  were  at  first  appointed;  for  forty  times  five 
days  and  almost  a  quarter  of  a  day  amount  to  near  that 
number.  But  we  find  that,  when  the  Israelites  came  into 
Canaan,  and  were  to  keep  the  Passover  there  on  the 
fourteenth  day  of  the  month  Abib,'  the  corn  was  ripe  in 
the  fields.'"  Jordan  then  overflowed  all  its  banks,  for 
which  it  was  annually  remarkable  all  the  time  of  har- 
vest;" so  that  the  Passover,  and  consequently  the  other 
feasts,  fell  this  year  about  the  times,  when  Moses  at 
first  stated  them.  Therefore  the  Israelites  must  have 
had  some  method  to  adjust  their  computed  year  to  the 
true  measure  of  a  real  one;  otherwise  the  observation  of 
their  set  festivals  would  have  remarkably  varied  from 
their  true  seasons  in  a  few  years. 

By  what  particular  method  the  ancient  Israelites  re- 
gulated their  year  in  this  manner,  may  perhaps  be  diffi- 

i*  They  must  in  a  few  years  have  come  to  celebrate  the  Passover,  before 
they  could  have  had  lambs  fit  to  be  eaten.  The  wave  sheaf-offering  would  have 
come  about,  befoi-e  the  barley  was  ripe  to  be  reaped,  and  the  Pentecost  before 
tJie  time  of  wheat  harvest.     Frideaux,  Preface  to  part  i  of  iiis  Connection. 

'  Exod.  xii,  6 — 8:  Levit.  xxiii,  5.  '•  Exod.  xii,  18. 

'  Ibid.  *  Joseph.  Antiq.  lib.  iii,  c.  10. 

R  Levit.  xxiii,  15,  16.  •>  E.\od.  xxxiv,  22. 

'  Levit.  xxiii,  39. 

•<  In  Canaan  the  produce  of  the  earth  seems  to  come  on  in  the  same  course 
as  in  Egypt.  In  Egypt  the  barley  was  in  the  ear,  when  ihe  wheat  and  the  rye 
were  not  grown  up,  Exod.  ix.  31,  32  ;  so  in  (Janaan  the  barley  harvest  came  on 
first :  then  tlie  wheat  harvest,  and  after  these,  the  gathernig  their  other  fruits, 
the  fruits  of  their  v'uieyards  and  oliveyards,  8ic, 

'  Josh.  V,  10.  "  Ibid;   see  book  xii. 

"  Josh,  iii,  15. 


PREFACE.  7 

cult  to  he  ascertained.  However,  I  shall  endeavour  to 
offer,  what  I  think  may  be  gathered  from  some  hints  in 
Moses's  institutions  relating  to  this  matter. 

Moses,  in  order  to  calculate  and  regulate  the  sacred 
festivals,  directed  the  Israelites  to  observe  the  month 
Abib ;"  which  was  to  be  unto  them  the  beginning  of 
months,  that  is,  the  first  month  of  the  year.?  On  the 
fourteenth  day  of  this  month  at  even,  they  were  to  kill 
and  eat  the  Passover.^  The  day  after,  or  the  fifteenth, 
was  the  first  day  of  unleavened  bread,'  and,  which  ought 
to  be  particularly  remarked,  the  first  day  of  unleavened 
bread  was  always  to  fall  upon  a  Sabbath:  which  I  think 
is  hinted  in  Levit.  xxiii,  11.  The  wave  sheaf  was  to  be 
waved  on  the  morrow  after  a  Sabbath;'  but  the  wave 
sheaf  was  thus  offered  on  the  second  day  of  unleavened 
bread  ;*  and  consequently  if  that  day  was  the  morrow 
after  a  Sabbath,  then  the  day  preceding  or  first  day  of 
unleavened  bread  was  a  Sabbath.  If  this  point  be  rightly 
stated,  it  should  be  remembered,  that  the  Sabbaths  in 
this  first  month  will  fall  thus;  the  first  day  a  Sabbath, 
the  eighth  day  a  Sabbath,  the  fifteenth  a  Sabbath,  the 
twenty-second  a  Sabbath,  and  the  twenty-ninth  a  Sab- 
bath. A  month  was  ordinarily  computed  to  be  thirty 
days,  neither  more  nor  less."  Accordingly,  if  we  go 
through  the  second  month,  the  Sabbaths  in  it  must  be 
thus:  the  sixth  day  a  Sabbath,  the  thirteenth  a  Sab- 
bath, the  twentieth  a  Sabbath,  and  the  twenty-seventh 
a  Sabbath.''     In  the  third  month  the  Sabbaths  will  fall 


"  Deut.  xvi,  1.  P  Exodus  xii,  2. 

9  Ibid  6 — 8;  Levit.  xxiii,  5.  '  Levit.  xxiii,  6. 

^  Ver.  11.  The  Hebrew  words  are,  natt'n  mnoD  i.e.  crastino  sabhati,  on 
the  day  after  the  Sabbath. 

'  Joseph.  Antiq.  lib.  iii.  ubi  sup, 

'1  Moses  thus  computes  the  months  in  his  account  of  the  Flood.  From  the 
seventeenth  day  of  the  second  month,  to  the  seventeenth  day  of  the  seventh 
month ;  for  five  whole  months  he  reckons  one  hundred  and  fifty  days.  Gen.  vii, 
llj  24;  viii,  3,  4,  which  is  exactly  thirty  days  to  each  month;  tor  five  times 
thirty  days  are  one  hundred  and  fifty. 

"  Scaliger  intimates  that  the  twenty-second  day  of  this  second  month  was  a 
Sabbath.  Lib.  de  Eniendat.  Temp.  p.  153,  which,  if  true,  would  overthrow 
the  order  of  the  Sabbaths  1  am  offering.  But,  1.  If  the  twenty-second  of  this 
month  had  been  a  Sabbath,  then  the  fifteenth  must  have  been  a  Sabbath  also ; 
and  the  people  would  have  rested  in  their  tents  upon  it,  Exod.  xvi,  30.  But 
the  fifteenth  was  a  day  of  travel;  the  Israelites  took  their  journey  from  E'ira 
unto  the  Wilderness  of  Sin,  on  the  fifteenth  day  of  tlie  second  month,  Exod, 
xvi,  1,  so  that  this  day  was  not  a  Sabbath,  and  consequently  neither  was  the 
twenty-second.  2.  Scaliger's  opinion  is  founded  upon  an  imagination  that  the 
quails  were  given  in  the  very  evening,  and  the  manna  on  the  morning  after  the 
Israelites  came  into  this  wilderness.  If  this  were  the  fact,  the  Israelites  ga- 
thering manna  for  six  successive  days,  before  Mgses  observed  t©  them  that  to- 


8  PREFACE. 

thus:  the  fourth  day  a  Sabbatli :  and  the  day  after  this 
Sabbath  was  the  day  of  Pentecost,  or  the  fiftieth  day 
from  tlic  day  of  the  bringing  the  sheaf  of  the  wave  offer- 
ing;' for  from  the  day  of  waving  it,  on  the  day  after  a 
Sabbath,  they  were  to  count  seven  Sal)baths  complete: 
unto  the  day  after  the  seventh  Sabbath  fifty  days,  and 
upon  that  fiftieth  day  they  were  to  offer  the  two  wave 
loaves  and  their  new  meal- offering/  Accordingly,  from 
the  sixteenth  of  the  first  month  to  the  fifth  day  of  the 
third  month,  counting  inclusively,  arc  fifty  days;  and 
the  fiftieth  day  falls  regularly  on  the  morrow  or  day 
after  the  Sabbath,  as  Moses  calculates  it/  The  other 
Sabbaths  in  the  third  month  fall  thus:  the  eleventh  day 
a  Sabbath,  the  eighteenth  a  Sabbath,  and  the  twenty- 
fifth  a  Sabbath.  In  the  fourth  month  the  Sabbaths  fall 
as  follows:  the  second  day  a  Sabbath,  the  ninth  a  Sab- 
bath, the  sixteenth  a  Sabbath,  the  twenty-third  a  Sab- 
bath, and  the  thirtieth  a  Sabbath.  In  the  fifth  month, 
the  seventh  day  will  be  a  Sabbath,  the  fourteenth  a 
Sabbath,  the  twenty  first  a  Sabbath,  and  the  twenty- 
eighth  a  Sabbath.  In  the  sixth  month,  the  fifth  day  is 
a  Sabbath,  the  twelfth  day  a  Sabbath,  the  nineteenth  a 
Sabbath,  and  the  twenty-sixth  a  Sabbath.  We  are  now 
to  begin  the  seventh  month:  and  here  I  must  observe, 
that  Moses  was  ordered  to  speak  unto  the  children  of 
Israel,  saying.  In  the  seventh  month,  .in  the  first  day 
of  the  month,  shall  ye  have  a  Sahhathy  It  may  be  here 
queried,  whether  this  Sabbath  was  to  fall  seven  days 


morrow-  is  the  Sabbath  (See  ver,  22,  23,)  would  indeed  suggest  that  tlie  Sab- 
bath fell  on  the  twenty-second.  But  how  improbable  is  it  that  the  Israelites 
should  have  fixed  their  camp,  explored  the  country,  found  that  they  could  not 
be  supported  in  it,  mutinied,  obtained  a  miraculous  supply  from  God;  and  all 
this  in  the  remaining  part  of  a  day  almost  spent  in  travel  ?  A  supply  given 
thus  instantaneously  would  hardly  have  been  known  to  be  a  miracle.  They 
could  not  so  soon  have  judged  enough  of  the  country  they  were  in,  to  deter- 
mine whether  it  might  not  be  the  natural  product  of  it.  In  the  wilderness  of 
Shur  they  travelled  three  days  before  they  came  to  high  complaints  for  want 
of  water,  Exod.  xv,  22-  In  like  manner  they  came  into  the  Wilderness  of  Sin, 
on  the  fifteenth  day  of  the  month,  on  a  second  day  of  the  week.  In  about  four 
days  they  had  eaten  up  all  that  could  be  prpvidud  for  them ;  and  found  abso- 
lutely that  the  land  they  were  in  could  not  support  them.  In  this  extremity 
they  were  ready  to  mutiny;  on  the  fifth  day,  the  twentieth  day  of  the  month, 
and  the  seventh  day  of  the  week  at  even,  .Moses  obtained  the  quails  for  them, 
and  on  the  next  morning  the  manna.  They  gatiiered  manna  for  six  days,  and 
then  the  Subbath  was  on  the  twenty-seventh.  In  this  way  of  computing,  we 
allow  the  affau-s  transacted  a  necessary  space  of  time  ;  which  will  fix  the  Sab- 
baths to  the  days  I  have  supposid  to  belong  to  them. 

y  Levit.  xxiii,  15.  Levit.  xxiii,  17 ;  Numb,  xxvili,  26. 

*  Levit. xxiii,  16.  '    ).cvit.  xxiii,  24- 


after  the  last  Sabbath,  and  be  one  of  the  weekly   Sab- 
baths of  the  year:  or  whether  it  was  to  be  a  common 
day  of  the  week  in  itself,  but  ordered  to  be  kept  as  a 
Sabbath  by  a  special  appointment.     An  answer  to  this 
query  is  easy  to  be  collected  from  considering  the  ap- 
pointments of  this  season.  The  tenth  day  of  this  seventh 
month  was  to  be  a  day  of  atonement  to  afflict  their  souls, 
and  they  were  especially  ordered  to  do  no  work  on  that 
same  day.     There  could  have  been  no  need  of  that  par- 
ticular order,  if  this  tenth  day  had  been  a  Sabbath;  for 
upon   account  of  its  being  a  Sabbath  day,  no  manner  of 
work  must  have  been  done  therein;''    this  tenth   day 
therefore  did  not  fall  upon  a  weekly  Sabbath.     But  we 
may  observe,  that  it  would  have  been  a  weekly  Sabbath, 
if  some  special  appointment  had  not  here  taken  place  to 
prevent  it;  for  as  the  twenty-sixth  day  of  the  sixth 
month  was  a  Sabbath,  the  days  going  on  in  their  com- 
mon order;  the  third  day  of  the  seventh  month  would 
have  been  a  Sabbath,  and  coustqueuily  the  tenth.    But 
the  tenth  day  thus  appearing  not  to  have  been  a  Sab- 
bath, it  must  be  allowed  that  the  third  also  was  not  a 
Sabbath  day:  and  consequently,  that  there  must  have 
been  some  particular  appointment,  to  cause  the  Sabbaths 
not  to  go  on  in  the  course  in  which  they  would  otherwise 
have  proceeded.     Now  the  injunction  of  the  first  day  of 
the   seventh   month's  being  a   Sabbath    appears  very 
plainly  to  have  been  this  appointment;  and  would  al- 
ways cause  the  tenth  day  not  to  fall  on  a  Sabbath,  but 
on  a  week-day,  pertinently  to  the  injunction  of  having 
no  work  done  therein;  so  that  I  think,  there  can  re- 
main nothing  farther  to  be  considered,  than  at  what  dis- 
tance this  Sabbath  day,  on  the  first  day  of  the  seventh 
month,  was   to  be  kept  from  after  the  last  preceding 
Sabbath.     And  I  think  we  may  conclude  that  seven 
days  must  have  been  the  interval;  for  I  think  this  was 
the  laW'   of  the  Sabbath  without  variation.     Between 
Sabbath  and  Sabbath,  six  days  they  were  to  labour  and 
do  all  their  work;  hut  the  seventh  day  was  to  be  the 
Sabbath;'^  and  if  this  be  allowed  me,  it  will  be  plain  that 
the  Israelites  must  have  here  added  two  days  to  the  end 
of  the  sixth  month  to  make  the  sixth   day  of  the  week 
the  last  day  of  it;  for  the  twenty-sixth  day  of  this  month 


'  Exod.  XX,  10.  '^  Exod.  xx,  9, 10. 

Vol.  III.  n 


10  PKEFACE. 

was,  as  I  have  observed,  a  Sabbath;^  consequently,  if 
this  month,  like  other  months,  had  contained  only  thirty 
days,  the  last  day  of  it  would  have  been  the  fourth  day 
of  the  week,  and  the  first  day  of  the  seventh  month  could 
not  have  been  a  Sabbath,  in  the  manner  which  Moses 
appointed.  Here  therefore  the  Israelites  kept  two  week- 
days more  than  this  month  would  otherwise  have  afford- 
ed; and  began  the  seventh  month  with  the  Sabbath,  ac- 
cording to  the  injunction.  But  to  go  on;  the  first  day 
of  the  seventh  month  being  thus  a  Sabbath:  it  will  fol- 
low, that  in  this  month  the  eighth  day  would  be  a  Sab- 
bath, the  fifteenth  a  Sabbath,  the  twenty- second  a  Sab- 
bath, i\m\  twenty-ninth  a  Sabbath.  The  tenth  day  of 
this  month  was  the  day  of  atonement;*"  the  fifteenth  day 
began  the  feast  of  tabernacles,^  a  feast  to  be  kept  for 
the  gathering  in  the  fruits  of  the  land.''  This  feast 
was  thus  to  begin  with  a  Sabbath,'  and  after  seven  days' 
celebration,  it  was  ended  on  the  eighth  day,  namely, 
on  the  tvventy-sccuiid  dit^  of  this  month,  with  another 
Sabbath.''  The  twenty-ninth  day  of  the  seventh  month 
being  a  Sabbath,  the  Sabbaths  in  the  eighth  month  will 
fall  thus:  the  sixth  day  will  be  a  Sabbath,  the  thirteenth 
a  Sabbath,  the  twentieth  a  Sabbath,  and  the  twenty- 
seventh  a  Sabbath.  In  the  ninth  month,  the  fourth 
day  will  be  a  Sabbath,  the  eleventh  a  Sabbath,  the 
eighteenth  a  Sabbath,  and  the  twenty- fifth  a  Sabbath. 
In  the  tenth  month,  the  second  day  will  be  a  Sabbath, 
the  ninth  a  Sabbath,  the  sixteenth  a  Sabbath,  the  twen- 
ty-third a  Sa])bath,  and  the  thirtieth  a  Sabb.ith.  In  the 
eleventh  month,  the  seventh  day  will  be  a  Sabbath,  the 
fourteenth  a  Sabbath,  the  twenty-first  a  Sabbath,  and 
the  twenty-eighth  a  Sabbath.  In  the  twelfth  month, 
the  fifth  day  will  be  Sabbath,  the  twelfth  a  Sabbath,  the 
nineteenth  a  Sabbath,  and  the  twenty-sixth  a  Sabbath, 
and  the  thirtieth  day  of  this  month  would  be  the  fourth 
day  of  the  week.  But  here  it  must  be  remembered, 
that  the  first  day  of  the  ensuing  year,  the  first  of  the 
month  Abib,  must  fall  upon  a  Sabbath  ;'  so  that  here,  as 
at  tlic  end  of  the  sixth  month,  two  days  must  be  added 
to  make  the  week  and  tlie  year  end  together ;  that  the 
first  day  of  Abib  may  be  regularly  a  Sabbath,  after  a 

'  Vkl.  qua:  sup.  f  Levit.  xxlii,  27.  s  Ver.  34. 

'•  Ver.  39.  '  Lcvit.  xxiii,  39. 

''  Ibid.  '  Vid.  quae  sup. 


PREFACE.  11 

due  interval  of  six  days  between  the  last  foregoing  Sab 
bath  and  the  day  of  it.  In  this  manner  Moses's  ap- 
pointments appear  to  carry  the  Israelites  through  the 
year  in  fifty-two  complete  weeks,  amounting  to  three 
hundred  and  sixty-four  days,  and  this  would  be  a  great 
approximation  to  the  true  and  real  solar  year,  in  com- 
parison of  what  all  other  nations  at  this  time  fell  short 
of  it.  But  still  it  must  be  remarked,  that  even  a  year 
thus  settled  would  not  fully  answer;  for  the  true 
length  of  the  year  being,  as  I  have  said,  three  hundred 
and  sixty-five  days  and  almost  six  hours;  Moses's 
year,  if  thus  constituted,  would  still  fall  short  one  day 
and  almost  six  hours  in  every  solar  revolution,  and 
this  would  have  amounted  to  almost  fifty  days  in  the 
forty  years,  which  he  was  with  the  Israelites,  and 
therefore,  had  the  Israelites  began  and  continued 
computing  their  year  in  this  manner,  they  would  have 
found  at  their  entering  into  Canaan  on  the  tenth  day 
of  their  month  Abib,  that  they  were  come  thither,  not 
just  at  the  time  of  harvest,  as  they  might  have  ex- 
pected, nor  when  Jordan  overflowed  its  banks,  as  it  did 
annually;  but  rather  they  would  have  been  there  almost 
fifty  days  before  the  season,  so  that  we  must  endeavour 
to  look  for  some  farther  direction  in  Moses's  appoint- 
ments, or  we  shall  be  yet  at  a  loss  to  say  how  the  Israel- 
ites could  keep  their  year  from  varying  away  from  the 
seasons.    But 

I  would  observe,  that  there  are  several  hints,  in  the 
injunctions  of  Moses,  which  may  lead  us  througli  this 
difficulty.  The  feasts  of  the  Loud  were  to  be  pro- 
claimed in  their  seasons ;""  and  it  is  remarkable,  that  the 
season  for  the  wave  sheaf  ofiering  is  directed  in  some 
measure  by  the  time  of  harvest.  When  ye  be  come  into 
the  land,  which  I  give  unto  you,  and  shall  reap  the  har- 
vest thereof  J  then  shall  ye  bring  a  sheafs — Thus  again  : 
seven  weeks  shall  thou  number  unto  thee;  begin  to 
number  the  seven  weeks  from  such  time  as  thou  begin- 
nest  to  put  the  sickle  to  the  corn.°  The  numbering  these 
weeks  was  to  begin  from  the  day  of  bringing  the  sheaf 
of  the  wave-ofiering,P  therefore  the  wave  sheaf- offering 
and  the  Pentecost  at  the  end  of  the  weeks  appear  evi- 


'*"  Levit.  xxiii,  4.  »  Ver.  10. 

'  Dcut,  xvi,  9.  ''  Levit,  xxiii,  1; 


12  PREFACE. 

(lently  to  have  been  regulated  by  tlie  corn  season ; 
wliich  was  sure  to  return  annually  after  the  revolution 
of  a  true  year,  however  the  computed  year  might  vary 
from,  or  not  come  up  to  it.  And  the  only  question 
whicii  can  now  remain  is,  whether  the  Israelites  were 
to  keep  all  their  other  feasts  on  their  set  days,  exactly 
at  the  return  of  the  computed  year;  or  whether  their 
other  feasts  were  regulated  along  with  these  of  the 
wheat  sheaf  and  Pentecost,  so  as  to  have  their  computed 
year  corrected  and  amended  as  often  as  the  return  of 
harvest  showed  there  was  reason  for  it.  Now  this  last 
intimation  appears  plainly  to  me  to  have  been  the  fact ; 
•for  I  observe,  that  the  fifteenth  day  of  the  seventh 
month  is  supposed  never  to  fall  before  they  had  ga- 
thered in  the  fruits  of  their  land :  because  on  that  day 
they  were  always  to  keep  a  feast  for  the  ending  all  their 
harvest.'!  But  if  the  computed  year  had  gone  on  with- 
out correction,  the  fifteenth  day  of  the  seventh  month, 
every  year  falling  short  a  day  and  almost  a  quarter  of  a 
true  solar  year,  would  in  a  number  of  years  have  come 
about,  before  the  time  for  beginning  their  harvest.  And 
Moses  lived  long  enough  to  have  seen  it  very  sensibly 
moving  towards  this  absurdity;  and  consequently  cannot 
be  supposed  to  have  left  it  fixed  in  such  a  manner.  Ra- 
ther the  whole  computed  year  was  to  be  regulated  by;^ 
the  season  of  harvest.  When  the  year  was  ended,  the 
Israelites  were  to  proclaim  for  the  ensuing  year  the 
feasts  of  the  Lokd  ;'  and  they  were,  I  think,  to  be  kept 
at  their  times  according  to  this  public  indiction  of  them  : 
and  in  order  to  fix  their  times  right,  they  were  in  the 
first  place  to  observe  the  month  Abib,'  the  harvest 
month,*  to  appoint  the  beginning  of  that  to  its  true  sea- 
son. This  they  might  do  (as  often  as  they  found  it  va- 
rying from  it,  by  the  corn  not  growing  ripe  for  the  sickle 
at  or  about  the  sixteenth  day  of  this  month,  the  second 
day  of  unleavened  bread,"  on  whicii  they  were  wont  to 

1  Ycr.  39.  ■■  Levit.  xxiii,  4. 

s  Devit.  xvi,  1.  I  need  not,  I  think,  observe,  that  llie  wcatlier  in  Jiidca  was 
not  so  variable  as  in  our  climate;  and  consequently,  that  seed  time  and  harvest 
were  seasons  more  fixed  with  the  inliabitants  of  this  country  tlian  with  us. 

'  It  may  be  queried,  wliether  Abib  be  the  name  of  a  month.  'I'lie  Israelites 
in  these  times  seem  toliave  named  their  months  no  otherwise  than  first,  second, 
tliird,  &.C.  jYomina  mn7isium  ab  initio  nulla  fuerc,  says  Scaliger.  The  Hebrew 
word  JlOil)  signifies  ripeiiinff,  and  perhaps  -Moses  did  not  mean  by  Chotksh  ha 
Abib,  the  month  Abib,  intending  Abib  as  a  proper  name,  but  tlie  month  ofri 
peninfft  or  of  tlie  corn  being  fit  for  the  sickle. 

"  Exod.  xii;  Lcvit.  xxiii,  ubi  sup. 


PREFACE.  13 

offer  their  wave  sheaf)''  in  the  following  manner.  When, 
I  say,  they  found  at  the  end  of  the  year,  from  the  expe- 
rience of  two  or  three  past  years,  as  well  as  the  year 
then  before  them,  that  harvest  was  not  so  forward  as  to 
be  fit  to  be  begun  in  about  sixteen  days ;  they  might 
then  add  so  many  days  to  the  end  of  their  year  as  might 
be  requisite,  that  they  might  not  begin  the  month  Abib 
until,  upon  the  sixteenth  of  it,  they  might  expect  to  put 
the  sickle  to  the  corn,  and  bring  the  wave  sheaf  in  their 
accustomed  manner.  This,  I  think,  might  be  the  me- 
thod in  which  the  ancient  Israelites  adjusted  their  year 
to  the  seasons  ;  and  I  conceive,  that  when  they  added  to 
their  year  in  this  manner,  the  addition  they  made  was 
of  whole  weeks,  one,  two,  or  more,  as  the  appearing 
backwardness  of  the  season  required ;  that  the  first  of 
Abib  might  fall  upon  a  Sabbath,  and  the  other  Sab- 
baths of  the  year  follow  in  their  order,  as  I  have  above 
fixed  them.  We  may  observe,  concerning  this  method 
of  adjusting  the  year,  that  it  is  easy  and  obvious ;  no 
depths  of  human  science,  or  skill  in  astronomy,  are  re- 
quisite for  proceeding  according  to  it.  The  Israelites 
could  only  want  once  in  about  twenty  years  to  lift  up 
their  eyes,  and  to  look  into  \\\q\v  fields,^  and  to  consider 
before  they  proclaimed  the  beginning  of  their  month 
Abib,  whether,  or  how  much  they  wanted  of  being 
luhite  to  harvest;  and  this,  with  the  observing  their  sab- 
baths as  above  related,  would  furnish  them  a  year  fully 
answering  all  the  purposes  of  their  religion  or  civil  life. 
Now  this  method  being  thus  capable  of  answering  all 
purposes,  without  leading  them  to  a  necessity  of  fixing 
equinoxes,  estimating  the  motions  of  the  heavenly  bo- 
dies, or  acquainting  themselves  with  any  of  those 
schemes  of  human  learning,  by  which  the  heathen  na- 
tions were  led  into  their  idolatries,  I  am  the  more  apt  to 
think,  that  this  was  the  method  which  God  was  pleased 
by  the  hand  of  Moses  to  suggest  to  them. 

I  am  aware  of  only  one  point,  which  can  furnish  any 
very  material  objection  to  what  I  have  offered.  The 
Israelites  were  ordered  by  Moses  to  keep  the  beginning 
of  their  months  as  solemn  feasts,  on  which  they  were  to 
offer  special  sacrifices;^  and  they  were  to  celebrate 
them   like  their  other   high  festivals  with  blowing   of 

==  Joseph,  nbi  sup.  >'  John  iv,  35.  '^  Numb,  xxviii,  11. 


14  PREFACE. 

trumpets.*  And  they  seem  to  have  carefully  observed 
this  appointment  in  their  worst,  as  well  as  in  their  best, 
from  their  earliest  to  their  latest  times.  In  the  days  of 
Saul,  these  days  were  kept  as  high  feasts,  on  which  a 
person,  who  used  to  sit  there,  was  sure  to  be  missed,  if 
absent  from  the  king's  table.''  They  are  mentioned  as 
held  by  David  and  Solomon  amongst  the  solemn  festi- 
vals.^ As  such,  Hezckiah  afterwards  provided  for  the 
observance  of  them.*^  The  Prophets  mention  them  in 
like  manner,'"  and  Ezra  took  care  to  revive  them  at  the 
return  from  the  captivity  ;^  and  it  appears  to  have  been 
the  custom  of  all  the  Israelites,  who  feared  God,  to  ob- 
serve these  days  among  the  feasts  of  the  house  of  Israel, 
as  is  evident  from  tlie  character  given  to  Judith,  amongst 
other  things,  for  her  care  in  this  matter.^  In  their  later 
days  the  Jews  fixed  the  days  of  these  feasts,  by  the  ap- 
pearance of  the  new  Moon  ;*"  and  great  pains  were 
taken  to  begin  the  month  and  the  moon  together.' 
This  was  the  practice,  when  the  author  of  the  book  of 
Ecclesiasticus  wrote;  for  he  tells  us,  that  from  the 
Moon  is  the  sign  of  feasts  ;^  and  the  Jewish  writers 
say,  that  Moses  appointed  this  practice,  and  that  the 
Israelites  proceeded  by  it,  from  the  beginning  of  the  law.' 
The  LXX  indeed  seem  to  have  been  of  this  opinion, 
and  accordingly,  except  in  tiiree  or  four  ])laces  only,'" 
in  their  translation  of  the  Hebrew  Scriptures,  they  ren- 
der the  expression  for  the  beginning  of  the  months  by 
the  Greek  word  rufiTjina,'^  or  veouyjvLa,  the  term  con- 
stantly used  by  the  heathen  writers  for  their  festival  of 
tlie  new  Moons  observed  by  them."  And  we  have  fol- 
lowed the  LXX,  and  do  generally  call  the  first  days  of 
the  months,  the  new  moons,  in  our  English  Bibles.     But 

«  Numb.  X,  10.  f"  1  Sam.  xx,  5. 

•^  1  Cliroii.  xxiii,  31 ;  2  Chron.  ii,  4;  viii,  13.  "^  2  Chron.  xxxi,  3. 

'  ls:iiah  i,  13,  14;   Ixvi,  23;  Ezek.  xlvi,  1 ;  Hos.  ii,  11 ;  Amos  viii,  5. 

f  Ezr;i  iii,  5.  *;  .luditli  viii,  6. 

''  'ralmud  in  Tract.  Rosh.  Hashanah ;  Maimonides  in  Kcddush  ;  llachod.; 
Selden  de  anno  civili  veteruin  Judseoi  urn  ;  Sculiger.  Can.  Isagog.  lib,  iii,  p.  222 ; 
Cicrn.  Aleximd,  Stromal,  lib.  vi,  p.  760,  edit.  Oxon. 

'  Tl»e  Englisli  reader  may  see  the  tianslation  of  Jurieii's  History  of  the 
Doctrines  and  Worship  of  the  Church,  vol.  i,  p.  ii,  c.  8,  Prideaux,  Connect. 
Preface  to  vol.  i. 

'<  Ecchis.  xliii,  7.  '  Vid.  Spcn.  dc  Leg.  Heb.  p.  810. 

■"  Vid.  ■?.  Chron.  viii,  13;  Isaiah  Ixvi,  23;   Amos  viii,  5. 

"  Numb.  X,  10 ;  xxviii,  1 1 ;  1  Sam.  xx,  5  ;  2  Kings  iv,  23 ;  1  Chron.  xxiii^ 
31 ;  I'salm  Ixxxi,  3 ;  et  passim. 

°  Vid.  ilerndot.  lib.  de  vit.  Homer  c.  33 ;  Plutarch  de  vitand.  aere  alieno,  p. 
828;  Theophrast.  Character.  Ethic,  iv ;  Lucian,  in  Icaro  Menip.  p.  731. 


PREFACE.  15 

if  the  ancient  Israelites  fixed  these  festivals  in  this  man- 
ner, they  could  not  compute  their  months  and  year  as 
I  have  intimated;  for  in  a  calendar  formed  according  to 
what  I  have  offered,  the  new  Moons  and  first  days  of  the 
months  would  not  agree  with  one  another.  The  most 
learned  Dean  Prideaux  has  given  a  full  account  of  the 
manner  of  the  Jewish  year  in  their  later  ages.  It  con- 
sisted of  twelve  lunar  months,  made  up,  alternately,  of 
twenty-nine  or  of  thirty  days,  and  brought  to  as  good 
an  agreement  as  such  a  year  could  have  with  the  true 
solar  year,  by  an  intercalation  of  a  thirteenth  month 
every  second  or  third  year.^  And  some  year  of  this  sort 
the  Israelites  must  have  used  in  and  from  the  time  of 
Moses,  if  they  had  observed  the  new  Moons  from  his 
time,  making  them  the  directors  of  the  beginning  of 
their  months,  and  keeping  their  feasts  according  to 
them. 

But  I  would  observe,  l.That  it  cannot  be  conceived, 
that  Moses  had  any  notion  of  computing  months  accord- 
ing to  this  lunar  reckoning,  for  five  successive  months 
in  his  account  were  deemed  to  contain  one  hundred  and 
and  fifty  days;''  but  had  he  computed  by  lunar  months, 
one  iiundred  and  forty-eight  days  would  have  been  the 
highest  amount  of  them.  In  like  manner,  twelve  months 
only  made  a  Jewish  year,  until,  at  least,  after  the  times 
of  David  and  Solomon;  for  had  there  been  in  their  times 
a  thirteenth  month  added  to  the  year,  and  that  so  fre- 
quently as  in  every  second  or  third  year,  neither  would 
twelve  captains  in  David's,  nor  the  same  number  of 
officers  of  the  household  in  Solomon's  time  have  been 
sufficient,  by  waiting  each  man  his  montii,  to  have  gone 
throughout  all  the  months  of  the  year  in  their  waitings.' 
No  man  of  them  waited  more  than  one  month  in  any 
one  year,'  and  therefore  no  years  at  this  time  had  more 
than  twelve  months  belonging  to  them.  But  the  best 
writers  seem  fully  satisfied  in  this  point.  ^'  It  can  never 
be  proved,"  says  Archbishop  Usher,  ^' that. the  He- 
brews used  1  unary  months  before  the  Babylonian  cap- 
tivity.'"' Petavius  seems  to  think,  not  till  after  the 
times  of  Alexander  the  Great,  when  they  fell  under  the 


p  Prldeaux's  Connect.  Pref.  to  Part  i.  "3  Gen.  vli,  12,  24  ;  viii.  S- 

'  1  Kings  IV,  5 ;    I  Chron  xxvii.  '   I  Kings  iv,  7. 

'-  Chronol.  Pref.  to  the  Reader.    Vid.  Scaliger.  Emend.  Temp.  p.  151. 


16  PREFACE. 

government  of  the  Syro -Macedonian  kings."  2.  It  is 
not  probable,  that  God  should  command  the  Israelites 
to  regulate  their  months  by  the  Moon,  or  to  keep  a  feast 
upon  the  particular  day  of  the  new  Moon;  for  the  law, 
if  this  had  been  a  constitution  of  it,  would  have  been 
calculated  rather  to  lead  them  into  danger  of  idolatry, 
than  to  preserve  them  from  it.  The  practice  of  the  later 
Jews  in  this  matter  prompted  an  author,  cited  by  Cle- 
mens Alexantlrinus,  to  charge  them  with  idolatry;" 
which  charge,  though  I  cannot  think  it  well  grounded, 
yet  nbundantly  hints  to  me,  that  a  feast  of  new  Moons  is 
not  likely  to  be  a  precept  of  Moses's  law.  I  think  God 
would  not  have  directed  him  to  institute  any  thing, 
which  could  carry  such  an  appearance  of  evil:  espe- 
cially when  one  great  design  of  the  manner  of  giving 
the  law  is  declared  to  be,  that  the  Israelites  ivhen  they 
lifted  up  their  eyes  to  Heaven,  and  saw  the  Sun,  and 
the  Moon,  and  the  Stars,  even  all  the  host  of  Heaven^ 
should  not  he  driven  to  loorship  themJ  The  nations, 
whom  the  Israelites  were  to  drive  out,  seem  to  have 
served  these  gods,  and  in  this  manner;  and  it  is  not 
likely  the  Israelites  should  be  required  to  do  so  unto  the 
Lord  their  God:^  rather  it  miglit  be  expected,  that 
they  should  be  instructed  in  a  method  of  beginning  their 
months  opposite  to  any  show  of  agreement  with  the  hea- 
then superstitions.  They  were  commanded  not  to  use 
honey  in  any  of  their  sacrifices;*  not  to  sow  their  fields 
with  mingled  seed;**  not  to  round  the  corner  of  their 
heads,  nor  mar  the  corners  of  their  beards;'  which 
things  were  practised  by  the  heathens  as  rites  of  reli- 
gion, and  therefore  the  Israelites  were  not  allowed  to  do 
them.  The  Israelites  were  to  be  a  peculiar  people  unto 
the  Loud  their  God;  and  whilst  there  runs  through  the 
whole  law  a  visible  design  of  many  of  its  institutions  to 
separate  them  from  other  nations  for  this  great  purpose, 
is  it  likely  there  should  be  a  direction  for  them  to  begin 
their  months  vvlth  the  Moon,  which  was  worshipped  by 
the  heathens  as  a  high  deity?  I  dare  say,  this  beauty  of 


»  Petav.  Rationar.  Temp.  part,  ii,  lib.  i,  c.  6. 

iTir'm-sLi,  KaiTfiivcvri;  ctyyiKot;  km  nfiX'^yytMli,  /uwi  km  <r£X>)V)),  km  i-xv  //»  <riKMVU  fnvii, 
irotbfotTsv  UK  u.y>is-i  to  Kiy./unvjV  Trpusrov,  nii  vto/tAiivixv  uytn^iv,  owri  u^ujusl,  wn  eopntv, 
cvrt  fjiiyxMv  hfAipn.    Clem.  Alexand.  Stroraat.  lib.  vi,  p.  270. 

y  Deut.  iv,  19.  *  Id.  xii,  31.  »  Levit.  ii,  11. 

'•  Id.  six,  19.  '  Ver.  27. 


PREFACE,  17 

Meaven^'^  lucidum  cceli  decus,  says  Horace,""  queen  of 
Heaven j^  glory  of  the  stars,^  Horace  expresses  it,  side- 
rum  regina,^'  was  not  a  regulator  or  director  of  tlic  re- 
ligious festivals  of  the  God  of  Israel ;  rather  his  chosen 
people  were  led  into  some  plainer  method  of  computing 
their  months,  and  that  such  a  method,  as  might  so  vary 
the  beginning  of  them  from  a  determined  relation  to  any 
light  of  Heaven,  as  to  evidence,  that  the  appointed  holy- 
days,  which  they  kept,  they  did  indeed  keep  only  unto 
the  Lord.  The  author  of  the  Book  of  Ecclesiasticus  ob- 
serves concerning  the  Moon,  that  the  month  is  called  cftcr 
her  name;'  but  this  was  not  so  to  an  ancient  Israelite. 
In  our  English  language  the  words  Moon  and  month 
may  have  tiiis  relation;  and  a  like  thought  is  to  be  sup- 
ported in  the  Greek  tongue,   in  which  the  author  of 
Ecclesiasticus  wrote  his  Book.     M>7Z',  the  month,  may 
be  a  contraction  from  f.ir,vri,  the  Moon,  though  I  think 
it  more  natural  to  derive  ^yivyi  from  p"^v,  than  (.ir^v  from 
(H>7V/7,     However,  in  the  Hebrew,  jareach^  or  lehanah^ 
are  the  words  which  signify  Moon;  and  chodcsh'''  is  the 
word  for  month;  and  these  have  no  such  aflinity  to  one 
another.     4.  Indeed,  in  the  Hebrew  Bible,  there  is,  I 
think,  no  one  text,  either  in  the  Books  of  Moses,  or  in 
any  other  of  the  Books  of  the  Old  Testament,  which  in- 
timate that  the  Israelites  observed  the  day  of  the  new 
Moon  in  any  of  their  festivals.     The  Israelites  were  to 
offer  their  burnt-offerings  unto  the  Loud  in  the  begin- 
ning, not  of  their  Moons,  but  ICDyt^lH  *£^*>?1D]   be- 
Rashei    Chadsheichem,    on    the    beginnings   of  their 
months,"^  and  the  expression  is  the  same.  Numb,  x,  10. 
The  Israelites  are  there  commanded  to  blow  with  the 
trumpets  .  .  .  on  the  beginning  of  their  months;  but 
nothing  relating  to  the  Moon  is  suggested  to  them.  And 
this  expression  runs  through  all  the  texts  of  Scripture, 
in  which  the  LXX  have  used   the   word  v8iiyivia   or 
vso^Yivta ;  or  we  in  English,  the  new  Moons.  When  the 
Shunamite  would  have  gone  to  the  Prophet,  her  hus- 


'1  Ecclus.  xliii,  9.  '  Carm.  Seculare.  ^  See  Jer.  vii,  18. 

B  Eccl.  ubi  sup,  ''  Hor.  ib.  '  Ecclus.  xliii,  8. 

^  n-i>  Vid.  Gen.  xxxvii,  9  ;  Deut.  iv,  19;  Josh,  x,  19  ;  .Tob  xxxv,  5  ;  Psalm 
vili,  4;  Eccles,  xli,  2;  Isaiah  xlii,  10;  Jer,  viii,  2;  Ezek.  xxxii,  7;  Joel  ii, 
10,  &c, 

'  Cantic.  vi,  10;  Isaiah  xxiv,  23 ;  sxx,  26, 

•^  Gen.  viii,  4;  Exod.xii,  2 ;  Levit.  xxiii,  24 ;  Deut.  i,  3  ;  1  Kinijs  iv,  7,  &c- 

"  Numb,  xxviii,  11. 

Vol.  III.  C 


18  FREFACE. 

band  said  unto  her,  wherefore  wilt  thou  go  to  him  to 
day  ?  It  is  neither  (we  render  the  place,)  new  Moon, 
nor  sabbath:  the  LXX  say  ov  veofirjvia  ovht  GoESarov 
but  the  Hebrew  words  arc,  loa  chodesh  re  loa  shab- 
hath,"  it  is  not  the  month- day,  nor  the  sabbath.  Thus 
again  the  Psalmist  directs,  to  blow  up  the  trumpet, 
not  as  we  render  it,  in  the  neiv  Moons,  nor,  as  the  LXX 
BV  veo^Yjvia;  but,  ba  chodesh,  vpon  the  month  day.^  In 
none  of  the  texts,  that  suggest  this  festival,  is  there  any 
mention  ha  Jareash  or  hal  Lebanah,  of  the  Moon;  for 
not  the  first  day  of  the  Moon,  but  the  first  day  of  the 
month,  was  the  day  observed  by  them.  It  is  remarkable, 
that  this  signification  of  the  Hebrew  texts  was  so  unde- 
niable to  the  Jewish  Rabbins,  that  they  could  not  but 
own,  that  their  observing  the  first  days  of  months  upon 
new  Moons  did  not  arise  from  any  direction  of  the 
words  of  the  law,*^  they  say  it  was  one  of  the  matters 
Avhich  Moses  was  taught  in  the  Mount,  and  by  tradition 
was  brought  down  to  them.'  It  is,  I  think,  undeniable, 
that  the  Jews  did  admit  the  use  of  a  new  form  of  com- 
puting their  year  some  time  after  the  captivity,  which 
differed  in  many  points  from  their  more  ancient  method, 


o  2  Kings  iv,  23. 

p  Psalm  Ixxxi,  4.  The  latter  part  of  the  verse  is  thought  by  some  writers 
to  intimate  something  contrary  to  what  1  am  offering.  Blo-wp  the  trumpet, 
says  the  Psalmist,  on  the  month  day,  after  wliich  follows,  ujn  Qv*?  nD32,  bac- 
ceseh  lejom  chaggenn.  The  word  ceseh  they  say,  is  clenvcil  troni  the  verb 
caaah,  to  cover,  so  tjiat  biicceseh  may  signify,  at  the  covertiig,  or  when  the 
Moon  is  in  conjunction  with  the  Sun,  covered,  as  it  were,  so  as  to  give  no  bght. 
Thus  these  wnteis  think  this  verse  intimates  that  the  new  Moon  liad  been  a 
solemn  festival.  But  I  would  observe,  the  expression  thus  tnktn  is  so  singular, 
unlike  any  thing  to  be  met  with  in  any  other  place  of  Scripture,  notwithstand- 
ing the  frequent  mention  of  the  iestival  here  intended,  that  1  think  we  cannot 
safely  build  upon  it.  Otiiers  derive  the  word  ceseh,  from  ddd  casas,  to  number 
out,  and  accordingly  render  bacceseh,  upon  the  appointed  day :  but  were  this 
the  sense  of  the  ])lacc,  the  word  would,  perhyps,  have  been  written  not  nD33, 
bacceseh,  but  nd33  baccesea,  see  Proverbs  vii.  21.  The  reader  may  see  what 
has  been  otlcred  upon  this  text  in  Scalig  de  Emendat  Temp.  lib.  i'ii,  p.  153; 
Cleric.  Comment,  in  loc;  and  will,  after  all,  find  the  passage  to  be  obscure,  at 
most  but  doubtfully  explained  by  those  who  have  written  upon  it.  cdv"?  is 
the  same  as  ova.  Siee  Proverbs  vii,  21.  naon  in  is  the  known  express. on  for 
the  feast  of  taheiiiaclfir .  Dent,  xvi,  13.  Antl  1  have  been  apt  to  suspect,  that 
transcribers  h.ivc  misplaced  the  letter  d  m  the  word  caseh,  and  wrote  nM3  in- 
stead of  p3Dn.  i.  e.  bacceseh  for  hassuccoth.  In  the  Hebrew  the  letters  of  the 
one  word  niiglit  readily  be  written  for  the  letters  of  the  other.  And  if  we  may 
make  this  emendation,  husuccoth  Icjotn  haggenu,  will  signify  on  the  day  of  ow 
feast  of  tabernacles;  and  the  Psalniist  will  appear  to  recommend  the  (<bserving 
two  S(jletnn  feasts,  which  fell  almost  together  in  the  same  month ;  the  one  the 
month  day,  or.  first  day  (^  the  seventh  month,  on  which  was  to  be  a  memorial  of 
blowing  of  trumpets,  Levit.  xxiii,  24;  the  other  the  first  day  of  t/ie  feast  of  taber- 
nacles.    See  ver.  34. 

'  Maimonid.  More  Nevoch.  p.  iii,  c.  xlvi.  «  Abarb,  in  Purasch. 


PREFACE.  19 

and  which  obliged  them  in  time  to  make  many  rules  for 
the  translation  of  days  and  feasts;  an  account  of  which 
we  may  find  in  the  writer  of  their  antiquities/  But  the 
law,  as  Moses  or  Joshua  left  it  to  the  observance  of  their 
fathers,  or  as  it  was  observed  until  after  David's  or  Solo- 
mon's time,  seems  to  have  been  a  stranger  to  all  these 
regulations.  I  might  perhaps  say,  that  the  Jews  in  fol- 
lowing these  were  in  many  points  led  contrary  to  Moses's 
directions.  When  our  Saviour  was  betrayed,  he  was 
apprehended  on  the  night  of  the  Passover,  after  he  had 
eaten  the  Passover  with  his  disciples,"  and  carried  early 
in  the  evening  to  the  high  priest's  house  first,*  and  af- 
terwards before  Pilate  into  the  judgment  hall;  for  the 
Jews,  who  prosecuted,  had  not  then  eaten  the  Passover, 
and  upon  this  account  could  not  go  into  the  judgment 
hall.  They  intended  our  Saviour's  accusation  should 
be  capital;  the  law  had  appointed,  that  persons  defiled 
with  the  dead  body  of  a  man  should  be  kept  back  and 
not  eat  the  Passover  until  the  fourteenth  day  of  the 
second  month;"  they  judged  the  persons,  who  were  to 
accuse  our  Saviour,  so  as  to  bring  him  unto  death, 
would  be  under  the  restriction  of  this  law;  and  there- 
fore they  left  off  their  prosecution  until  they  should  go 
home  and  eat  the  Passover.  On  the  next  morning,  on 
the  day  after  the  Passover,  they  assembled,  and  carried 
him  again  to  Pilate,  and  took  counsel  against  him  to 
put  him  to  death, ^  and  in  this  morning  passed  the  seve- 
ral matters  that  are  related  to  have  preceded  our  Sa- 
viour's crucifixion;  namely,  Pilate's  sending  him  to 
Herod,"^  Pilate's  wife's  message  to  Pilate  upon  account 
of  her  dreams,^  Herod's  remanding  Jesus  back  again 
to  Pilate,^  Pilate's  then  delivering  him  to  the  Jews  to  be 
crucified,*'  upon  which  they  immediately  led  him  away 
and  crucified  him,*^  and  the  next  day  was  the  sabbatli  ;^ 

"^  See  Godwin's  Moses  and  Aaron,  lib.  ili,  c.  7. 

"  Malt,  xvii,  17— 3l,S{,c.;  Mark  xiv,  12— 27,  SiC;  Luke  xxii,  7—34,  &c, 

*  It  was  rather  very  early  in  the  morning',  about  the  time  of  cock-crowing-, 
and  shortly  after  (s-pa).',  or  5rp&w,  about  break  of  day)  the  priests  and  scribes  as- 
sembled; and,  after  some  investigation,  brought  him  before  Pdate  and  accused 
)iim.  But  it  does  not  appear  that  they  brought  him  before  Pilate  twice,  as 
Dr.  Shuckford  asserts ;  and  our  Loitn  expired  about  three  o'clock  in  the  after- 
noon of  the  same  day  in  which  he  was  apprehended.     Ecit. 

X  Numb,  ix,  10,  11.  >'  Matt,  xxvii,  1;  Mark  xv,  1 ;  Luke  xxii,  66. 

^  Luke  xxii i,  7.  ^  Matt,  xxvii,  19. 

b   Luke  xxiii,  1 1 ,  =  Ver.  21— 24. 

d  Matt,  xxvii,  27— 35  ;  Mark  xv,  16— J4 ;  Luke  xxiii,  26—33;  John  .xix. 
16—18. 

'  Mark  xv,42  ;  Luke  xxiii,  54;  John  xix,  31. 


20  PREFACE. 

SO  that  in  this  year,  the  Jews  had  at  least  a  day  between 
the  evening  of  eating  the  Passover  and  the  sabbath  ;  but 
had  they  at  this  time  proceeded  according  to  Moses's  in- 
stitutions, I  think  the  first  day  of  unleavened  bread,  the 
day  immediately  following  the  evening  of  the  Passover, 
would  have  been  the  sabbath/ 

I  have  now  offered  the  reader  what  I  have  for  some 
time  apprehended,  that  the  institutions  of  Moses's  law 
hint  to  have  been  the  first  and  most  ancient  method 
used  by  the  Israelites  for  computing  and  regulating  their 
year.  I  have  much  wished  tu  find  some  one  learned 
writer  directing  me  in  this  matter ;  but  as  I  cannot  say 
I  do,  I  hope  I  have  expressed  myself  with  a  proper  dif- 
fidence. If  the  reader  shall  think  what  I  have  offered 
may  be  admitted,  a  small  correction  must  be  made  in 
what  I  have  suggested  concerning  the  ancient  Jewish 
year,  in  my  preface  to  my  first  volume.  And  if  I  shall 
find  myself  herein  mistaken,  I  shall  be  hereafter  better 
able  to  retract  what  I  have  thus  attempted  in  a  preface 
only,  than  if  I  had  given  it  a  place  in  the  following 
books  among  the  observations  upon  the  law  of  Moses.  I 
have  taken  no  notice  of  a  sentiment  of  Scaliger,  which 
seems  to  be  admitted  by  Arcli bishop  Usher,  that  the 
ancient  Israelites  computed  their  year  in  twelve  months 
of  thirty  days  each,  adding  five  days  at  the  end  of  the 
twelfth  montli  yearly,  and  a  sixth  every  fourth  year,^' 
because  it  is  a  thouglit  for  which  I  find  no  shadow  of 
proof  from  any  hint  in  Scripture,  or  remains  of  antiquity. 
Scaliger  indeed  attempts  to  compute  the  year  of  the 
Flood  to  have  been  reckoned  up  by  Moses  to  contain 
three  hundred  and  sixty-five  days;''  but  in  order  to  give 
colour  to  his  supposition,  he  represents  that  the  raven 
and  the  dove,  sent  by  Noah  out  of  the  ark,  to  see  if  the 
waters  were  abated,  had  been  sent  out  at  forty  days* 
interval  the  one   from  the  other,'  but  Moses's  narra- 


'  Accorillnjj  to  the  Jewish  calculation  of  tlic  year,  after  they  used  lur.ar 
y^rs,  the  interval  between  tlic  Passover  and  the  sabbatli  following  it,  was  dif- 
L-rcnt  in  difiercnt  years.  For  instance,  there  w  as  a  day  between  in  the  year  of 
our  Saviour's  crucifixion,  the  day  of  the  Passover  falhng  tiiat  jcar  as  on  our 
Thursday:  but  it  is  evident,  a  Jewish  hmar  year  ordinarily  containing  but 
three  hundred  and  fifty-four  days,  that  the  l*:issovcr  in  the  next  year  would  fall 
;is  on  a  'I'ucsday,  and  consequently  there  would  be  three  days  between  tlie 
Passover  and  tlie  sabbath,  &.c. 

E  Scaliger  lib.  de  En.endat.  Temp.  p.  151 ;  Usher'j  Chronol.  Epistle  to  the 
lieader. 

•■'  Scidiger,  p.  15?,  S;c.  '  Gen.  viii,  7,  8. 


PREFACE.  21 

lion  intimates  nothing  like  it,  nor  will  any  reader 
allow  it  to  be  probable,  that  collects  and  duly  comprres 
the  particulars  related  by  Moses  of  the  rise  and  fall  of 
the  waters,  and  of  Noah's  conduct  and  observations. 
The  raven  and  the  dove  here  spoken  of,  were  undoubt- 
edly sent  out,  both  upon  one  and  the  same  day.  As  to 
Archbishop  Ushers  seeming  to  be  of  opinion  that  the 
ancient  Jewish  year  was  in  this  manner  made  up  of 
three  hundred  and  sixty- five  days,  with  an  allowance 
for  about  a  quarter  of  a  day  in  every  year,  he  had 
computed,  and  found  that  a  number  of  years  of  the 
Israelites  were  capable  of  being  made  to  answer  to 
a  like  number  of  Julian  years,  and  this  led  him  to 
think  they  were,  as  to  leugth,  of  much  the  same 
nature.  I  need  only  observe  that,  if  the  Israelites 
computed  their  years  in  the  manner  above-mentioned 
by  me,  a  number  of  such  years  will  not  much  vary 
in  the  sum  of  them,  from  the  sum  of  a  like  number  of 
Julian. 

I  intended  an  attempt  in  this  place  to  answer  the  ob- 
jections of  some  writers,  who  would  argue  that  Moses 
had  not  composed  the  books  we  ascribe  to  him,  but  hav- 
ing in  many  parts  both  of  this  and  the  former  volumes 
obviated  the  difficulties,  which  seem  to  arise  from  some 
short  hints  and  observations  now  interspersed  in  the 
sacred  pages,  which  the  learned  are  apprized  had  not 
been  inserted  by  the  authors  of  the  bocks,  they  are  now 
found  in,*"  I  should  in  a  great  measure  only  repeat  what 
I  have  already  remarked,  were  Lto  refute  at  large  what 
is  oflPered  upon  this  topic.  If  the  reader  has  a  mind  to 
examine  it,  he  may  find  the  whole  of  what  can  be  pre- 
tended on  the  one  side  in  Spinoza,'  and  Le  Clerc's  third 
dissertation  prefixed  to  his  comment  on  tlie  Pentateucli 
may  furnish  matter  for  a  clear  and  distinct  answer  on 
the  other.  We  have  indeed  a  hint  or  two  upon  this  ar- 
gument in  some  remains  of  a  very  great  writer:  ^^  The 
race  of  the  kings  of  Edom,  it  is  observed,  before  there 
reigned  any  king  in  Israel,  is  set  down  in  the  book  of 
Genesis,  and  therefore  that  book  was  not  written  en- 
tirely in  the  form  now  extant,  before  the  reign  of  Saul."' 
The  reader  may  find  this  difliculty   attempted  to  be 


^  See  book  xil,  ct  in  al.  loc, 

■  Tract,  Tlicolog-ico-po!it.  in  part,  alter. 


^^  PKKFACE. 

cleared  in  its  proper  place,  I  shall  therefore  only  refer 
to  what  is  already  said  upon  it.™ 

^^  The  history  [in  the  Pentateuch]  hath  been  collect- 
ed, we  are  told,  from  several  books,  such  as  were  the 
liistory  of  the  creation  composed  by  Moses,  Gen.  ii,  4, 
the  book  of  the  generations  of  Adam,  Gen.  v,  1,  and  the 
book  of  the  wars  of  the  Lokd,  Numb,  xxi,  14."  It  is 
something  diflicult  to  form  any  notion  of  the  force  of 
the  argument  here  intended.  St.  Matthew  writes.  The 
Booh  of  the  generation  r?/ Jesus  Christ:"  can  we 
hence  argue,  that  the  gospel  we  now  have  and  ascribe 
to  him,  was  collected  from  a  book  of  the  generation  of 
Jesus  Ciiimst  written  by  him?  Spinoza  indeed  offers 
the  point,  which  may  perliaps  be  here  intimated,  to 
this  purpose.  The  books  which  Moses  wrote  are  ex- 
pressly named,  and  sometimes  cited  in  the  Pentateuch; 
consequently  the  Pentateuch  is  a  different  work  from 
the  l)ooks  cited  in  it."  But  the  fact  is  this :  Moses  has, 
in  some  parts  of  his  books,  told  us  expressly,  that  he 
wrote  them,  and  this  writer  would  infer  the  direct  con- 
trary from  these  very  intimations. 

In  the  xxxiiid  chapter  of  Numbers,  ver.  1,  2,  we 
have  these  words :  IViese  arc  the  journeys  of  the  chil- 
dren of  Israel,  ivhich  loent  forth  out  of  the  land  of 
Egypt,  ivith  their  armies,  under  the  hand  of  Moses 
and  Aaron.  And  Moses  ivrote  their  goings  out  ac- 
cording to  their  journeys,  by  the  commandment  of  the 
Lord.  And  these  are  their  journeys  according  to  their 
goings  out^  S,'C.  Let  us  now  suppose,  tliat  these  words, 
and  what  follow  them  to  the  end  of  the  49th  verse  of 
this  chay)tcr,  were  perhaps  Moses's  conclusion  of  the 
book  he  wrote  upon  tiiis  subject,  whether  he  called  it 
Motzah,  a  word  answering  to  Exodus,  or  Shcmolh,  i.  c. 
The  Booh  of  .A'hmes,  as  the  Jews  seem  afterwards  to 
liave  nominated  it,  or  whetlicr  he  really  affixed  no  title 
to  it.  Let  us  suppose  that  it  began  from  the  first  chap- 
ter of  Exodus,  and  contained  all  the  journcyings  of  the 
Israelites,  with  the  historical  circumstances,  w-hich  led 
to  or  attended  them,  and  that  it  ended  with  the  recapi- 
tulation of  them  mentioned  in  this  chapter.  In  the 
xxivth  chapter  of  Exodus,  it  may  seem  to  be  intimated. 


Sec  vol.  ii,  b.  vii,  p.  137.  "  MM.  i,  1. 

Tractat.  Theologico-polit.  in  part.  iiUcr.  c.  viii, 


PREFACE.  25 

that  Moses  wrote  another  book  called  the  Book  of  the 
Covenant.!'  Let  ns  now  suppose,  that  Moses  at  first 
wrote  in  this  book  no  more  than  what  God  had  com- 
manded, and  the  people  solemnly  engaged  themselves 
to  perform,  at  their  entering  into  covenant  with  God  ; 
namely,  what  is  mentioned  in  the  xixth,  xxth,  xxiid, 
and  xxivth  chapters  of  Exodns.  It  may  still  be  reason- 
ably concluded,  the  covenant  being  not  limited  to  the 
observance  of  the  few  commandments  contained  in  these 
chapters,  but  obliging  the  Israelites  to  obey  God's  voice, 
to  observe  all  the  statutes  and  judgments  which  God 
should  give  them  ;i  that  the  commandments  afterwards 
given  unto  Moses  were  also  written  in  this  book  in  the 
following  order.  First,  The  laws  given  in  Mount  Sinai, 
towards  the  end  of  which  might  be  thus  written.  These 
are  the  statutes,  and  judgments ,  lohich  the  Loud  fnade 
between  him  and  the  children  of  hraeU  in  Mount  Si- 
nai, by  the  hand  of  Moses.""  After  which  words,  we 
may  possibly  imagine,  he  added  the  laws  contained  in 
the  xxviith  chapter  of  Leviticus,  and  concluded  with 
these  words,  These  are  the  commandments  ivhich  the 
Loud  commanded  Moses  for  the  children  of  Israel  in 
Mount  Sinai.^  Next  to  these  might  be  added  the  laws, 
which  God  gave  out  of  the  tabernacle  of  the  congrega- 
tion.* And  in  this  manner  we  may  imagine  that  the 
book  of  the  covenant  had  consisted  of  all  the  laws  which 
God  gave  the  Israelites  both  from  Sinai,  and  from  the 
tabernacle  of  the  congregation.  In  the  xxixth  chapter 
of  Deuteronomy,  we  are  told  of  a  covenant^  ivhich  the 
Lord  commanded  Moses  to  make  with  the  children  of 
Israel  in  the  land  of  Moab  ;  besides  the  covenant  which 
he  made  xvith  them  in  Horeb."^  And  we  find  these  words 
at  the  end  of  one  of  his  chapters :  These  are  the  com- 
mandments and  the  judgments  which  the  Lord  com- 
manded,  by  the  hand  of  Moses,  unto  the  children  of 
Israel,  in  the  plains  of  Moab,  by  Jordan  near  Jericho.^ 
It  will  not  be  doubted  but  that  Moses  wrote  all  the 
ivords  of  this  law  also  i?i  a  book  J  Let  us  suppose  that 
the  words  above  cited  were  the  conclusion  of  it.  Let  us 
suppose  farther,  that  unto  all  these  Moses  added,  in  an- 


p  Exodus  xxiv,  4—7.  ^  See  Exodus  xxxiv,  27 

r  Levit.  xxvi,  46.  s  Levit.  xxvii,  34. 

'  Chap,  i,  1 ;  Numb,  i,  1.  >»  Deut.  xxix,  1. 

""  Numb,  xxxvij  13.  /  Deut.  xxxi,  24. 


24  PREFACE. 

Other  book,  the  words  which  he  spake  unto  all  Israel  on 
this  side  Jordan^  in  the  wilderness  ;  and  all  these.,  to- 
gether with  the  book  of  Genesis,  make  the  Pentateuchj 
or  five  books,  which  we  call  the  books  of  Moses. 

It  will  here  be  said,  that  if  we  look  for  the  books  of 
Moses  in  the  Pentateuch  in  this  manner,  we  must  allow 
that  some  paragraphs  and  even  chapters  do  not  follow 
now  exactly  in  the  places  where  Moses  at  first  put  them. 
But  in  answer  to  this,  I  apprehend,  that  it  will  not 
be  thought  a  very  material  question,  whether  any  of  the 
leaves,  sheets,  rolls,  or  skins,  which  were  written  by 
Moses  have,  or  have  not,  by  some  accident,  been  dis- 
composed, and  are  not  perhaps  put  together  again, 
every  one  in  its  proper  place ;  but  tiie  point  is,  whether 
in  the  present  Pentateuch  we  have  all,  and  nothing  but 
all,  that  Moses  wrote  in  the  books  which  were  penned 
by  him.  And  of  this  a  serious  examinant  may  suffi- 
ciently satisfy  himself.  If  we  must  suppose,  that  Moses 
wrote  his  books  under  such  titles  as  I  have  mentioned, 
yet  under  these  the  whole  of  all  the  books  of  Moses  may 
be  collected,  and  perhaps  some  passages  and  sections, 
which  now  seem  to  be  misplaced,  may  be  hereby  put 
into  an  order,  that  may  add  clearness  and  connection, 
which  they  may  be  suspected  to  want  in  their  present 
situation.  And  if  we  collect  and  examine  the  several 
little  notes,  remarks,  and  observations,  v»hich,  though 
now  found  in  several  places  of  the  Pentateuch,''  were 
undoubtedly  not  written  by  Moses,  but  added  by  some 
later  hand;  a  judicious  examiner  will  sec  of  these,  1. 
That  they  are  not  so  many  as  they  are  hastily  thought 
to  be.  2.  That  they  are  all  inconsiderable;  none  of 
them  so  necessary  in  the  places  where  they  are  found, 

'^  Dent,  i,  1.  I  miglit  here  answer  a  ti-ifling  cavil  suggested  concerning  the 
Book  of  Deuteronomy,  raised  from  liie  words  here  cited.  It  is  pretended  tliat 
beiieber  ha  Jardeit,  which  we  translate  on  l/iis  side  Jordan,  do  rather  signify 
beyond,  or  on  (he  other  side  .lordan,  and  consequently,  that  these  words  imply 
that  Moses  had  not  written  the  Book  of  Deuteronomy,  for  that  the  book  so 
called  was  written  by  a  person  who  had  passed  over  Jordan,  and  could,  ac- 
cording to  the  intimation  of  these  words,  remark,  that  the  words  of  Moses 
were  spoken  on  a  different  side  the  river  from  the  place  where  the  book  was 
written.  But  were  there  no  other,  the  tenth  and  thirteenth  verses  of  the 
fiftieth  chapter  of  Genesis  are  suflTicient  to  show  that  tlie  word  beneber  had  the 
signification  in  which  we  here  take  it.  When  Joseph  went  up  out  of  Egypt 
to  bury  his  father,  they  journeyed  from  Goshen  into  Canaan,  and  came  to  the 
cave  of  Machpelah  before  Mamre,  in  their  way  to  which  they  stopped  at  the 
threshing  floor  of  Atad,  beneber  /la  Janlen,  not  beyond,  but  on  this  side  Jor- 
dan, for  they  did  not  travel  into  Canaan,  so  far  as  to  the  river  Jordan, 

•  Vid.  Clerici  Dissevtat.  dc  Script  ore  Pentateuch. 


PREFACE.  25 

but  thatj  if  they  were  omitted,  the  text  would  be  full^ 
clear,  and  connected  without  them.  In  this  manner  we 
may  make  the  utmost  allowance  to  the  several  objections 
offered  against  the  books  of  Moses ;  and  have  a  clear 
conviction,  that  there  is  no  weight  in  any  of  them.  That 
the  Pentateuch  contains  the  books  of  Moses,  has  been 
constantly  believed  and  testified  by  the  Jews  in  all  ages. 
Spinoza  himself  confesses,  that  Aben  Ezra  only,  a  very 
modern  writer,  pretended  to  have  doubts  of  it,  and 
that  his  intimations  are  but  dark  and  obscure.  Josephus 
tells  us,  as  a  truth  never  questioned,  that  five  of  their 
sacred  books  were  the  books  of  Moses  ;^  and  our  Sa- 
viour explains  to  us  in  what  sense  they  were  Moses's 
books,  being,  as  he  tells  us,  Moses's  writings.  Had  ye 
believed  Moses,  said  he,  ye  would  have  believed  7ne,  for 
he  wrote  of  me  ;  but  if  ye  believe  not  his  writings  how 
shall  ye  believe  my  words  ?''  If  it  were  possible  to  show, 
that  the  books  we  now  read  for  Moses's  were  not  the 
books  alluded  to  by  our  Saviour,  something  might  be 
offered  upon  this  subject.  But  whoever  will  attempt 
this,  will  find  himself  not  able  to  propose  any  thing, 
which  can  require  refutation. 

When  Moses  had  made  an  end  of  writing  what  he 
was  to  leave  the  Israelites,  he  commanded  the  Levites, 
saying.  Take  this  book  of  the  law,  and  put  it  in  the  side 
of  the  ark'^  of  the  covenant  of  the  Lord  your  God,  that 
it  ?Jiay  be  there  for  a  witness  against  thee.^  It  is  here 
queried,  what  the  book  was  which  Moses  here  gave  the 
Levites,  whether  all  his  written  works  in  one  code  or 
volume,  or  whether  it  was  the  words  of  this  laiv;^  some 
one  single  book,  which  he  had  just  then  finished,  a  part 
only  of  his  writings.  Spinoza  is  for  this  latter  opinion, 
this  best  suiting  his  purpose,  to  insinuate  that  the  Le- 
vites had  charge  only  of  a  small  part  of  what  Moses 
wrote;  and  consequently,  that  all,  except  what  was 
committed  to  their  keeping,  was  soon  lost.^  1.  But  I 
think,  that  the  words  dibrei  hattorah  hazzaoth,  do  not 
perhaps  signify  the  words  of  this  law,^'  limited  to  a  sin- 
gle book  or  part  of  Moses's  writings.    The  particle  nj<? 


^  Joseph,  contra  Aplon.  lib.  i,  c.  8.  ■=  John  v,  46,  47 

^  See  Prideaux,  Connect,  b.  iii,  part  i.  Account  of  the  Ark. 
«  Deut,  xxxi,  26.  f  See  ver,  24. 

6  In  Tract.  Tbeolog.  polit.  ubi  sup.  '■  Deut.  sxxi,  24, 

Vol.  III.  D 


26  PREFACE. 

zaoth  isj  I  think,  sometimes  used  as  plural,'  and  the  ex- 
pression above  is  probably  of  this  import;  lohen  Moses 
had  made  an  end  of  writing  theivords  of  the  law,  even 
all  these  [words  or  things.]  The  tiict  might  be  thus: 
Moses  wrote  his  book  thus  far,  to  this  place,  and  then 
gave  the  Levites  the  charge  of  them.  2.  The  words 
used  by  Moses  to  the  Levites  are  general:  he  delivered 
to  them,  not  the  book  of  this  lawy  not  any  particular 
part  of  his  writings,  but  this  booh  of  the  law  in  general  j*^ 
the  particle  this  was  here  used,  because  Moses  had  the 
book  then  in  his  hand,  which  he  delivered  to  them. 
Sepe7'  ha  Torah,^  or  Seper  Torah,'^^  was  the  name  of  the 
whole  code  or  volume  of  the  sacred  writings,  never  once 
given  by  Moses  to  any  single  part  of  his  works,  but  im- 
posed here  as  a  general  title  of  the  book  which  con- 
tained the  whole.  The  law  was  that  part  of  the  code 
for  an  introduction  to,  illustration,  history,  or  confir- 
mation of  which,  all  the  other  parts  were  written,  and 
therefore  the  whole  might  well  be  called  the  book  of  the 
law,  the  law  being  the  principal  and  most  important 
part  of  the  code  called  by  this  title.  As  Moses  gave 
the  sacred  volume,  which  he  left  to  the  Israelites,  this 
general  title,  so  we  find  it  used  in  all  after  ages  for  the 
title  of  this  book,  even  when  not  only  the  works  of 
Moses,  but  also  the  Psalms  atid  tlic  Prophets,  were  con- 
tained in  it.  Joshua  wrote  his  book  in  the  book  of  the 
law,"  and  yet  in  Josiah's  time  the  vohimc  found  in  the 
temple,  which  undoubtedly  contained  all  that  Joshua 
had  written  in  it,  as  well  as  Moses,  was  called  by  its 
general  name,  the  hook  of  the  law  orily.  In  our  Sa- 
viour's time  the  books  of  Scripture  were  of  thi'ee  sorts, 
as  Josephus  afterwards  reckoned  them  ;°  namely,  the 
books  of  Moses,  the  Propliets,  and  the  Psalms. ^  And 
our  Saviour,  who  thus  distinguishes  them,  wlien  he  in- 
tended to  speak  of  the  particulars  which  made  up  the 
sacred  code,  yet  in  general  not  only  calls  all  the  books 
of  Moses  the  law,"'  but  cites  the  book  of  Psalms  as  part 
of  the  law,'  as  the  Jews  also  did  in  his  age,'  and  St. 
Paul  afterwards  cited  Isaiah  iu  like  manner.*     Moses, 

*  See  Judges  xiil,  23.  ■<  ntn  mtnn  ^BO  hn 

'  2  Kings  xxii,  8.  "  Joshua  xxiv,  26  ;  2  Chron.  xxxiv,  14 

n  Joslma  xxiv,  26.  "  Joseph,  contra  Apion.  lib.  i,  c.  8. 

P  Luke  xxiv,  44.  i  Luke  xxiv,  44. 

r  John  XV,  25.  »  Ch^ip.  xii,  34. 

'  1  Cor.  xiv,  21. 


PREFACE.  27 

at  delivering  his  writings,  called  the  whole  tome  the 
book  of  the  law,  and  this  continued  to  be  the  general 
title  of  the  whole  volume  of  the  sacred  books  in  all  ages, 
whatever  particular  books  were  annexed  to  or  contained 
in  it.  As  to  the  book  of  the  wars  of  the  Lord,  we  have 
no  reason  to  think  that  any  such  book  was  written  by 
Moses.  It  is,  indeed,  cited  in  a  book  of  Moses,**  but  so 
is  the  book  of  Jasher  in  that  of  Joshua;''  and  yet  the 
book  of  Jasher  was  a  composure  more  modern  and  of 
far  less  authority  than  the  book  of  Joshua.  The  reader 
may  see  what  is  offered  concerning  the  citation  of  the 
book  of  Jasher  in  Joshua,^  and  will  find  it  reasonable 
perhaps  to  account  for  the  citation  in  JVumbei^s  of  the 
book  of  the  wars  of  the  Lord,  in  like  manner.  In  what 
is  above  offered,  the  reader  will  see  the  greatest  liberty 
taken  by  me  in  the  suppositions  I  have  made  concerning 
the  original  divisions  or  titles  of  the  books  of  Moses,  and 
the  dislocations  or  transpositions  which  may  be  con- 
ceived now  to  be  in  some  chapters  or  paragraphs  of 
them.  I  was  willing  to  allow,  for  the  sake  of  argument, 
the  utmost  that  could  with  any  show  of  reason  be  pre- 
tended; being  sure,  that,  after  all,  nothing  could  be 
concluded  to  prove  that  Moses  had  not  written  what  we 
ascribe  to  him.  But  I  must  not  leave  this  topic  without 
observing,  that  I  cannot  say,  that  Moses  did  actually 
divide  his  writings  into  books  in  the  manner  above  sup- 
posed, or  that  the  chapters,  which  we  may  imagine  not 
to  be  now  found  in  their  proper  places,  were  originally 
otherwise  disposed  by  Moses  than  we  now  find  them. 
Of  all  the  books  written  by  Moses,  the  book  of  Genesis 
only  could  be  composed  by  him  in  the  opportunity  of  great 
leisure.^  He  must  have  lived  in  the  hurry  of  a  variety  of 
engagements  in  the  management  of  a  most  restless  people., 
all  the  time  he  was  writing  his  accounts  of  them;  and  con- 
sequently, what  is  contained  in  what  we  now  call  the  books 
of  Exodus,  Leviticus,  Numbers,  and  Deuteronomy,Tnight 
be  at  first  minuted  down,  and  put  together,  as  works  ge- 
nerally are,  which  are  composed  and  finished  in  such 
circumstances.  The  historical  parts  were  registered,  as 
the  occurrences  arose  which  were  the  matter  of  them. 
The  laws  given  were  recorded  when,  and  as  it  pleased 


"  Numb,  xxi,  14.  "  Joshua  x,  13. 

y  See  book  xii.  -  See  vol.  ii,  b.  ix,  p.  22.' 


28  PREFACE. 

God  to  direct  Moses  to  write  them:  sometimes  imme- 
diately at  their  being  given,  at  other  times  not  until  oc- 
casions arose,  which  demanded  a  recollection  of  them. 
Some  things  were  repeated,  added  to,  or  explained,  as 
circumstances  required  :  and  Moses  had  no  time  to  go 
over  and  methodize  anew  what  he  had  written  in  this 
manner,  but  put  the  whole  together,  and  gave  it  to  the 
Levites,  still  adding  a  few  matters  which  were  to  be  re- 
corded after  his  ordering  the  Levites  the  charge  of  his 
books;  namely,  what  we  find  from  the  24th  verse  of  the 
xxxist  chapter  of  Deuteronomy  to  the  end  of  the  xxxiiid 
chapter,  as  Joshua  afterwards  added  to  what  was  left 
by  Moses,  the  occurrences  of  the  times  that  succeeded. 
In  this  manner,  perhaps,  w'e  may  fully  account  for  all 
that  can  seem  in  any  wise  to  intimate  that  we  have  not 
now  tlie  books  of  Moses  in  the  order  and  form  in  which 
he  left  them  ;  and  this  account  of  his  books  seems  to  me 
most  likely  to  be  the  true  one,  and  cuusequently  most 
reasonable  to  be  admitted. 

As  to  the  particulars  contained  in  the  ensuing  volume, 
I  must  submit  tliem  to  the  Reader,  and  I  hope  they 
may  be  received  with  that  candour  which  has  been 
shown  to  my  former  volumes.  What  is  now  published 
might  have  been  more  various  and  entertaining,  had  it 
reached  down  to  an  age  which  could  have  alForded  more 
matter  of  profane  history  to  be  interspersed  in  it.  But 
divers  of  the  Scripture  occurrences  herein  treated  of, 
were  not  to  be  passed  over  cursorily;  and  the  entering 
into  these  more  largely  obliged  me  to  conclude  this 
volume  something  short  of  the  period  at  which  I  pro- 
posed to  myself  to  end  it.  I  am  abundantly  sensible  of 
the  obligations  I  am  under  to  many  of  my  superiors,  for 
the  reputation  they  give  me  by  their  favour.  The  truly 
great  find  a  real  pleasure  in  cherishing  any  well-intended 
endeavours  of  their  inferiors.  And  if  my  abilities,  as 
an  author,  were  equal  to  the  gratitude  and  inclination 
of  my  mind,  T  should  well  deserve  the  continuance  of 
that  good  opinion  which  many  persons,  who  are  in  sta- 
tions above  my  being  otherwise  known  to  them,  are 
pleased  to  conceive  of  me  themselves,  and  to  create  of 
me  in  others.  But  I  am  afraid  1  siiould  appear  guilty  of 
an  act  of  vanity  rather  than  of  gratitude,  if  I  were  to 
proceed  in  intimations  of  this  nature,  or  to  say,  how 
much  the  Right  Honourable  Mr.  0^'SLOW;,  the  Speaker 


PREFACE.  29 

of  the  House  of  Commons,  has  been  a  patron  of  my  stu- 
dies in  this  manner. 

My  thanks  are  acknowledged  to  be  due  to  a  learned 
divine  of  a  foreign  University,  Mr.  Wolle,  of  Leip- 
sick,  and  also  to  Mr.  Arnold,  professor  of  the  English 
and  French  Tongues  there,  for  my  reputation  in  their 
country.  I  am  sorry  that  I  am  not  able  to  read  the 
translation  of  my  books,  which  one  of  them  has,  some 
years  ago,  published  in  the  German  tongue ;  and  the 
very  learned  dissertation  prefixed  to  that  translation  by 
the  other.  Hopes  were  at  one  time  given  me  of  seeing 
this  dissertation  in  English,  and  from  the  short  extract 
of  it  in  our  Republic  of  Letters, "^  I  cannot  but  think  I 
should  have  satisfaction  in  every  part  of  it,  except  in 
that  which  relates  to  my  own  character.  I  have  not 
those  abilities,  which  this  learned  divine  ascribes  to  me. 
I  may  have  been  happy  in  the  choice  of  a  subject,  which, 
if  I  could  manage  suitably,  might  afford  a  work  very 
useful  even  to  the  learned  world.  I  can  only  endea- 
vour to  go  through  it  with  as  much  attention  as  my  situ- 
ation in  life  will  allow  me ;  but  am  able  to  perform  no 
part  of  it  without  many  imperfections.  My  procedure 
in  it  must  be  by  slow  steps ;  being  obliged  many  times 
to  lay  aside  my  studies  on  account  of  avocations,  which 
in  my  circumstances  must  be  attended  to;  and  oftentimes 
to  defer,  or  entirely  to  drop  subjects,  which  might  be 
considered,  as  I  can  or  cannot  get  a  sight  of  books  which 
would  conduct  my  inquiries.  However,  if  I  find  my 
endeavours  continue  acceptable  to  the  public,  I  shall,  as 
soon  as  I  can,  in  one  volume  more,  offer  the  remaining 
part  of  this  undertaking. 

2  Republic  of  Letters  for  September,  1731, 

Shelton,  Norfolk, 
Oct.  21,  1736. 


SACRED  AND  V'^b^-$,1^!^J^^^^,.»^^^ 
HISTORY  OF  THE  WORLD  CONNECTED, 


BOOK  X. 


MOSES  and  the  Israelites  joined  in  a  song  of  thanksgiving 
for  their  deliverance  from  the  Egyptians  ;^  after  which  they 
moved  from  the  Red  Sea  into  the  wilderness  of  Shur,^  where 
they  wandered  three  days  and  could  find  no  water.^  At  Ma- 
rah  they  found  water,  but  could  not  drink  it  because  it  was 
bitter  ;^  And  the  people  murmured  against  Moses,  saying. 
What  shall  we  drink?  Jlnd  he  cried  unto  the  Lord,  and 
the  Lord  showed  him  a  tree,  which  when  he  had  cast  into 
the  waters,  the  waters  were  made  siveet.^  We  are  informed,* 
that  God  at  this  time  gave  Moses  some  particular  command, 
and  proved  him,  or  made  trial  of  his  obedience  ;  for  this  must 
be  the  sense  of  the  place.  Our  English  translators  have  evi- 
dently mistaken  the  words  of  Moses :  they  render  the  passage, 
There  he  made  for  them  a  statute  and  an  ordinance,  and 
there  he  proved  them.  This  translation  seems  to  hint,  that 
some  laws  were  here  given  to  the  Israelites,  and  that  they 
were  the  persons  here  proved  ;  but  the  commentators  are  at  a 
loss  to  ascertain  any  laws  given  at  this  time.^  If  we  attend 
to  the  Hebrew  text,  the  affix  used  by  Moses  does  not  signify 
THEM,  but  HIM ;  and  Moses  himself  was  the  person  here  ap- 
plied to,  and  not  the  Israelites,  and  the  statute  and  ordinance 
here  given  was  to  him,  not  to  them.  This  agrees  with  the 
26th  verse,  where  the  text  is  justly  translated,  not,  If  ye  ivill 

»  Exodus  XV.  2  Yer.  22. 

3  Syncell.  Chron.  p.  128;  Philo  de  Vita  Mosis,  lib.  i;  Joseph.  Antiq.  lib. 
iii,  c.  1. 
''  Exodus  XV,  23.  s  Ver.  25. 

6  Ver.  26.  •  See  Pool's  SvTiops,  in  locum. 


32  SACRED  AND  PROFANE         BOOK  X. 

hearken;  but,  7/" thou  wilt  diligently  hearken,  &c.  When 
the  Israelites  were  got  over  the  Red  Sea,  we  do  not  read  that 
the  pillar  of  the  cloud  and  of  fire  went  before  them  into  the 
wilderness  of  Shur.  Moses  very  probably  led  them  thither, 
without  any  special  direction  from  God;  they  travelled  here 
three  days  without  water,  and  when  they  found  water  it  was 
bitter,  and  they  could  not  drink  it.  In  their  distress  they 
murmured,  and  Moses  prayed  to  God  for  assistance:  God  ac- 
cepted his  prayer,  and  gave  him  (chok  ve  Mishpat,)  a  spe- 
cial order  and  appointment  what  to  do;  namely,  to  take  a 
bough  from  a  tree  to  which  he  was  directed,  and  to  put  it  into 
the  waters,  and  by  this  he  proved  or  tried  him.**  He  gave 
him  an  opportunity  to  show  his  readiness  strictly  to  perform 
whatever  orders  should  be  enjoined  him ;  and  hereupon  God 
promised  him,  that  if  he  would  thus  punctually  observe  all 
his  appointments,  that  then  he  would  continually  extricate 
him  out  of  every  difficulty. 

We  read  of  no  place  called  Marah  in  the  profane  authors ; 
for  indeed  the  Israelites  gave  the  place  this  name,  because 
the  waters  they  found  here  were  bitter,  the  word  Marah  in 
their  language  signifying  to  be  bitter ;  but  the  best  heathen 
writers  agree,  that  there  were  lakes  of  bitter  waters  in  those 
parts  where  the  Israelites  were  now  travelling.  Diodorus  in- 
forms us,  that  there  were  such  waters  at  some  little  distance 
from  the  city  Asinoe.^  Strabo  says  the  same  thing  ;^  and 
Pliny  carries  on  Trajan's  river  from  the  Nile  to  the  bitter 
fountains.^  Now  these  bitter  fountains,  and  the  bitter  lakes 
mentioned  by  Strabo  and  Diodorus,  and  the  bitter  waters 
which  the  Israelites  found  at  Marah,  may  easily  be  conceived 
to  be  the  same.  The  city  Arsinoe,  agreeably  to  both  Strabo's 
and^  Diodorus's  position  of  it,  was  situate  near  the  place  of  the 
present  Suez;  and  not  far  from  the  neighbourhood  of  this 
place  reached  Trajan's  river,  which  was  carried  on  to  the  bit- 
ter lakes,  whither  the  Israelites  may  be  conceived  to  have  wan- 
dered. They  went  from  the  Red  Sea  into  the  wilderness  of 
Shur,  through  which  they  could  not  pass  towards  Canaan,  for 
want  of  water;  then  they  turned  about  towards  Egypt,  where 
they  hoped  to  find  plenty,  and  came  to  Marah  upon  the  coast 
of  Suez. 


8  We  meet  mnny  instances  in  tlic  Scriptures,  of  God*-;  appointing  persons 
applying  to  liim  for  lavoiirs,  to  do  some  act  as  a  proof  of  their  entire  submis- 
sion and  obedience  to  him.  Jacob  was  ordered  to  use  peeled  rods,  Gen.  xxx. 
Naaman  to  wash  in  the  river  Jordan,  2  Kings  v.  And  in  Exodus  xvi,  tlie  Is- 
raelites were  proved  in  this  manner.  They  were  ordered  to  gather  of  the 
manna  a  certain  rate  every  day,  that  Cod  might  prove  them,  whether  they 
woulil  walk  in  his  law  or  not.  '  Thus  was  Moses  here  proved,  he  was  ordered 
to  put  a  bough  iiito  the  water;  a  thing  in  itself  insignificant,  but  his  doing  it 
testified  his  readiness  to  observe  any  injunction  which  God  should  think  fit  to 
give  him. 

9  Diod.  Sic.  lib.  iii,  p.  120.  '  Strabo,  Geog.  lib.  xvii,  p.  801- 
3  Plin.  Nat.  Hist,  lib,  vi,  c.  29.                      '  Didor.  h  Strabo  ubi  sup. 


BOOK  X.  HISTORY  CONNECTED.  33 

Josephus  gives  a  very  idle  account  of  the  change  of  the  taste 
of  the  waters  of  Marah.^  He  supposes  that  the  country  they 
were  now  in  afforded  no  water  naturally  ;  that  the  Israelites 
sunk  wells,  but  could  not  find  springs  to  supply  enough  for 
their  occasions,  and  that  what  they  did  find  was  so  bitter,  that 
they  could  not  drink  it;  that  they  sent  out  every  way  to 
search,  but  could  hear  of  no  water;  that  there  was  indeed  a 
well  at  Marah,  which  afibrded  some  water,  but  not  a  quantity 
sufiicient  for  them ;  and  that  what  it  supplied  them  with  was 
so  bitter,  that  even  their  cattle  could  not  drink  it;  that  upon 
the  Israelites  uneasiness  with  Moses,  he  prayed  to  God,  and 
took  his  rod,  and  split  it  down  in  the  middle,  and  persuaded 
the  people  that  God  had  heard  his  prayers,  and  would  make 
the  water  fit  for  them  to  drink,  if  they  would  do  as  he  should 
order  them.  Upon  their  asking  what  he  would  have  them 
do,  he  directed  them  to  draw  out  of  the  well,  and  pour  away 
the  greatest  part  of  the  water;  the  doing  this,  he  says,  stirring 
and  dashing  about  the  waters  by  the  buckets  they  "drew  with, 
purged,  and  by  degrees  made  them  potable.  But,  1.  This  ac- 
count of  Josephus  differs  from  what  the  profane  writers,  as 
well  as  Moses,  relate  concerning  the  country  where  the  Is- 
raelites now  were.  Josephus  represents  it  as  a  place  where 
no  water  was  to  be  had ;  but,  according  to  Moses,  the  people 
were  in  extremity  at  Marah,  not  for  want  of  water,  but  of 
good  water.  To  this  Strabo  agrees,  who  supposes  water 
enough  in  this  place,  many  large  lakes  and  fosses,''  though  he 
tells  us  they  were  in  ancient  days  bitter,  until  by  a  communi- 
cation^ of  the  river,  the  late  inhabitants  of  the  country  found 
out  the  way  to  meliorate  their  taste.  2.  Had  the  Israelites 
found  a  well,  as  Josephus  supposes,  if  the  supply  of  water  it 
afforded  was  too  scanty  for  their  occasions,  what  relief  would 
it  have  been  to  them  to  draw  off  and  throw  away  the  greatest 
part  of  their  defective  supply,  in  order  to  sweeten  a  small  re- 
mainder? Or,  3.  How  could  the  dashing  water  about  at  the 
bottom  of  a  well  sufficiently  purify  it  from  its  mineral  taste; 
which  most  probably  was  given  it  from  the  very  earth, 
against  which  they  must  thus  dash  it?  But  it  is  needless  to 
refute  at  large  this  fancy  of  Josephus. 

The  writer  of  the  Book  of  Ecclesiasticus  hints  a  different 
reason  for  the  cure  of  those  bitter  waters ;  who  suggests,  that 
the  wood,  which  Moses  was  directed  to  use,  had  naturally  a 
medicinal  virtue  to  correct  the  taste  of  the  waters  at  Marah. 
JVas  not,  says  he,  the  ivater  made  sweet  with  ivood,  that 
the  virtue  thereof  might  be  knoivn?'^  But  I  cannot  think, 
that  the  opinion  of  this  writer  can  be  admitted :  for,  1.  It  does 

3  Josephus  Antiq.  lib.  ili,  c.  1. 

4  i^ofvyH  TTXii^i  iLxt  }^i/j.v3Li  rzirKiKnx^iia-Ai  MJTAtc.     Strabo,  lib.  xvii,  p.  804. 

S'tufiuyo;  /jUTiQuxKavro  thi  Kfif.<rit  ra  Tmuun,     Id.  ibid, 
^  Kcclus.  xxxviii,  5. 

Vol.  III.  E 


34  SACKED  AND  PROFANE  BOOK  X. 

not  seem  probable,  that  Moses  here  used  a  whole  and  large 
tree;  rather  he  took  a  little  bough,  such  as  he  himself  put  into 
the  water,  and  immediately  the  taste  of  the  waters  changed. 
2.  If  it  could  be  thought,  that  Moses  employed  the  people  to 
lake  down  a  very  large  tree,  and  convey  it  into  the  water,  can 
we  suppose  that  even  the  largest  tree,  steeped  in  a  lake, 
should  immediately  communicate  a  sufficient  quantity  of  its 
natural  sweetness,  to  correct  the  taste  of  water,  enough  for  the 
occasions  of  so  many  hundred  thousands  of  people?  But,  3. 
We  have  great  reason  to  think,  that  there  was  no  tree  in  these 
parts  of  this  virtue.  Had  there  been  such  a  one,  after  the  vir- 
tue of  it  was  thus  known,  especially  Moses  having  recorded 
this  his  use  of  it,  it  would  certainly  have  been  much  used  by 
others,  and  as  much  inquired  after  by  the  naturalists.  But 
though  Strabo,  Diodorus  Siculus,  and  Fliny  have  all  remark- 
ed, that  there  were  bitter  waters  in  these  parts  of  the  world, 
yet  they  knew  of  no  trees  of  a  medicinal  quality  to  correct 
their  taste.  Pliny  tells  us  of  a  method  afterwards  invented 
to  meliorate  the  taste  of  such  waters;^  but  though  he  has 
treated  largely  of  the  powers  and  virtues  of  trees  and  plants,^ 
and  particularly  the  trees  in  these  parts  of  the  world,'^  yet  he 
never  heard  of  any  of  this  sort,  and  therefore  undoubtedly 
there  were  not  anj'.  The  author  of  Ecclesiasticus  was  a  very 
learned  man,  and  had  given  himself  much  to  reading  the  wri- 
tings of  his  fathers;  and  had  carefully  collected  their  senti- 
ments, to. which  he  added  some  observations  of  his  own  ;^  and 
this  seems  to  have  been  his  own.  Had  it  been  a  received  opi- 
nion of  the  Jewish  writers,  I  think  Josephus  would  have  had 
it ;  or  had  there  really  been  a  tree  of  this  nature,  the  heathen 
naturalists  would  have  observed  it.  But  from  their  entire  si- 
lence, I  imagine  that  the  author  of  Ecclesiasticus,  speculating 
in  the  chapter  where  we  find  this  hint,  upon  the  medicines 
which  God  had  created  out  of  the  earth,^  suggested  this  hint 
purely  from  his  own  fancy,  without  any  authority  for  it.  The 
Book  of  Ecclesiasticus  is  but  a  modern  composition,  in  compa- 
rison of  Moses's  writings,  being  first  published  in  Egypt  about 
one  hundred  and  thirty -two  years  before  Christ;^  and  being 
published  in  Egypt  was  much  read  by  the  Jews  of  Alexandria. 
Accordingly  Philo,  who  lived  there  about  our  Saviour's  time, 
was  acquainted  witli  the  opinion  of  this  author;  but  he  very 
justly  doubts  the  truth  of  it,  and  queries  whether  the  wood 
"here  used  had  naturally,  or  whether  God  was  not  pleased  to 
give  it  its  virtue  for  this  particular  occasion.'* 

From  Marah  the  Israelites  removed  to  a  place,  where  they 

T"  N.itrosae  aut  am.irse  aquse  polenta  addit.i  mltigantur,  lit  intra  duas  horas, 
bibi  possint.     I'lin.  Nat.  Hist.  lib.  xxiv,  c.  1. 

»  Plin.  Nat.  Hist.  lib.  xxiv,  per  tot.  lib.  9  Ibid.  c.  12. 

L  Prologue  to  Eccliis.  ^  Ecclus.  xxxviii,  4. 

a  Prideaux,  Connect,  part  ii,  b.  i,  vol.  iii,  p.  62 

*  riiilo  de  vit>  Mosis,  lib.  i. 


BOOK  X.  HISTORY  CONNECTED.  35 

found  twelve  fountains  of  water,  and  threescore  and  ten  palm 
trees.  A  place  not  unlike  this  is  described  by  Strabo/  which 
the  Israelites  called  Elim.  From  hence,  after  some  days  rest, 
they  marched  first  to  the  Red  Sea;^  perhaps  to  the  very  place 
where  they  came  over  out  of  Egypt,  and  from  thence  they 
went  into  the  wilderness  o(  Si7i,  on  the  fifteenth  day  of  the 
second  month,  after  their  departing  out  of  the  land  of 
Egypt,''  i.  e.  exactly  a  month  after  their  leaving  Egypt;  for 
they  left  Egypt  soon  after  midnight  of  the  fourteenth  day  of 
the  first  month.*  The  wilderness  of  Sin  was  a  barren  desert, 
not  capable  to  supply  them  with  provision ;  which  as  soon  as 
they  felt  the  want  of,  they  were  ready  to  mutiny,  and  most 
passionately  wished  themselves  in  Egypt  again.^  But  God 
was  here  pleased  miraculously  to  relieve  them,  by  great  flights 
of  quails,  a  sort  of  birds  very  common  upon  the  coasts  of  the 
Arabian,  or  Red  Sea;^  and  besides  sending  these,  he  rained 
them  bread  from  Heaven.  Every  morning,  when  the  dew 
was  off,  there  lay  «  <;!mall  round  thing,  as  small  as  the  hoar 
frost  upon  the  ground ;"  which  was  like  coriander  seed,  of  a 
white  colour,  and  the  taste  of  it  was  Ilk©  wafers  made  with 
honey.^  When  the  Israelites  saw  it,  they  knew  not  what  it 
was,  and  therefore  asked  one  another  Nin  {D  man  hua  ;  for 
they  are  two  Hebrew  words,  and  signify  what  is  this  ?  Man 
signifies  what,  and  hua  this :  and  not  knowing  what  name 
to  give  it,  they  called  it  man,  or  what,  i.  e.  is  it,  ever  after.* 

5  ^onmrnvd.  mm  evvS'e^ov,  Tt/uiaa-^cu  ts  KC/uiiSh,  S'ln  to  vno'dui  tuv  kvkxo!  x^njustTX^siv  t«, 
KM  tinS'fov,  KM  ArxMov  v7ruf>;yjiv,     Strabo.  Geog-.  lib.  svi,  p.  776. 

c  Numb,  xxxiii,  10,      "  "^  Exod.  xvi,  1. 

^  Exod.  xii.  3  Ibid,  xvi,  3. 

1  Joseph.  Antiq.  lib.  iii,  c.  i,  sect.  5 ;  Athenaeus  Deipnos.  lib.  ix.  c.  xi. 

2  Exod.  xvi,  13,  14. 

3  The  Hebrew  writers  have  had  various  conceits  about  the  taste  of"  manna ; 
some  of  them  perhaps  deduced  from  some  expressions  in  the  Book  of  Wisdom . 
That  Apocryphal  author  says  of  the  manna,  that  it  was  able  to  content  every 
man's  delight,  agreeing  to  every  taste,  and  that  serving  to  tlie  appetite  of  the 
eater,  it  tempered  itself  to  every  man's  liking.  Wisdom  xvi,  20,  21.  Lyra, 
from  the  Rabbins,  represents,  that  it  had  the  taste  of  any  sort  offish  or  fowl, 
according  to  the  wish  of  him  who  ate  it:  but  then  with  St.  Augustine  he  re- 
strains the  privilege  of  finding  in  the  manna  the  taste  of  what  they  most  loved, 
to  tlie  righteous  only.  I'he  authors  of  Talmud  Joma,  and  Lib.  Zohar  say,  the 
manna  iiad  all  sorts'of  tastes,  except  the  tastes  of  the  plants  and  sallads  which 
grew  in  Egypt;  but  there  is  no  end  of  pursuing  or  refuting  the  fancies  ot 
these  writers  Moses  says  of  the  manna  here  in  Exodus,  that  its  taste  was  like 
loafers  made  -with  honev.  In  Numbers  xi,  8,  he  says,  the  cakes  made  of  it  had 
the  taste  of  fresh  oil,-  so  that  we  may  conjecture,  that  it  had  a  sweetness 
when  gathered,  which  evaporated  m  the  grinding,  beating,  and  baking.  It  tasted 
like  honey  when  taken  off'tiie  ground,  but  the  cakes  made  of  it,  were  as  cakes 
of  bread,  kneaded  witli  oil.  The  Israelites  used  it  as  a  sort  of  bread,  they  had 
the  quails  instead  of  flesh,  Exodus  xvi,  1 2  ;  Numb,  xi.  The  manna  is  repre- 
sented to  have  had  no  higli  taste,  Numb,  xi.  6,  and  we  have  not  any  hint  from 
Moses  of  its  being  so  variously  delightsome  to  the  palate,  as  the  author  of  the 
Book  of  Wisdom  seems  to  suggest. 

■*  Our  English  word,  mmvui,  Exod.  xvi.  15,  seems  to  intimate,  that  tlie 
Israelites  put  the  two  words  man  hua  together,  as  the  name  of  this  food;  but 
tliey  used  but  one  of  them  ;  for  tliey  called  \\.man  and  not  man  hua.  See  Exod, 
xvi,  15,  31,  35;  Numb,  xi,  6,  7,  9  ;  Deut.  viii,  3,  16;  Joshua  v,  12;  Nehem, 
Jx,  20  ;  Psalm  Ixxviii,  24.  &.?. 


36  SACREB  A>.D  PROFANE  BOOK  X. 

The  Israelites  were  ordered,  every  head  of  a  family,  to 
gather  as  many  omers^  of  this  manna  every  morning  as  he  had 
persons  in  his  family,*'  but  as  they  went  out  to  gather  with- 
out taking  measures  with  them,  it  so  happened,  that  some 
gathered  more  than  their  quantity,  and  some  less.  However, 
they  carried  their  gatherings  home  ;  for  they  measured  what 
they  had  gathered  with  an  omer;  and  he  that  had  gathered 
more  than  his  quantity  gave  to  him  that  had  less,  so  that  every 
one  had  his  just  quantity  made  up,  and  no  more.  The  words 
of  the  18th  verse,  as  our  English  version  renders  them,  seem 
to  imply,  that  God  was  here  pleased  miraculously  to  adjust 
the  several  quantities  which  were  gathered.  We  translate  the 
place,  The  children  of  Israel  gathered  so?7ie  more,  some  less, 
and  ivhen  they  did  mete  it  luith  an  omer,  he  that  gathered 
nnuch  had  nothing  over,  and  he  that  gathered  little  had  no 
lack.  These  words  may  seem  to  hint,  that  God  was  pleased 
miraculously  so  to  order  it,  that  when  they  camp  to  measure, 
the  store  of  him  that  had  gathered  too  mucli  was  diminished 
to  the  exact  number  of  omers  whioH  he  was  to  have;  and  the 
defective  quantity  nf  him,  that  had  not  gathered  his  due  quan- 
tity, was  miraculously  increased  to  the  just  measure  of  what 
he  was  to  have  gathered;  so  that  he  that  had  gathered  much 
had  nothing  over,  and  he  that  had  gathered  little  had  no 
lack,  the  divine  Providence  causing  the  quantity,  which  every 
one  had  gathered,  to  answer  exactly  to  the  appointed  measure. 
Josephus,  I  think,  took  this  to  be  the  fact.^  But,  1,  to  what 
purpose  could  it  be  for  God  to  command  the  people  to  gather 
an  omer  for  each  person ;  if  he  designed  miraculously  so  to 
order  it,  that  let  them  gather  what  they  would,  they  should 
find  their  gatherings  amount  to  an  exact  omer,  neither  more 
nor  less  ?  2.  The  words  of  Moses,  if  rightly  translated,  express 
the  fact  to  have  been  very  different  from  this  representation 
of  it.  The  word,  which  we  translate  had  nothing  over, 
should  be  rendered,^  he  made  to  have  nothing  over  ;  and  in 
like  manner  the  word  translated  had  no  lack,  should  be  ren- 
dered he  caused  to  have  no  lack.  Now  JNIoses  was  the  per- 
son who  thus  ordered  it,  and  the  17th,  18th,  and  19th  verses 
should  be  word  for  word  thus  translated. 

Ver.  17.  ^Ind  the  children  of  Israel  did  so,  and  gathered 
some  more,  some  less, 

Ver.  18.  t^Ind  they  measured  with  an  omer,  and  Moses^ 

5  An  omer  is  the  tenth  part  of  an  cpluih,  prob;ibly  about  three  pints  and  a 
half  of" our  measure. 

6  Exodus  xvi,  16.  "?  Josephus  Anllq.  lib.  iii,  c.  i,  sect.  6. 

8  This  is  the  true  sense  of  the  Hebrew  verbs  in  the  conjugation  they  are 
liere  used  in.  t^ijj  in  the  conjug.itlon  kul,  signifies  to  abound,  or  to  have  over, 
but  H>nj,'^  '"  fiip/nl  is  to  cause  to  abound:  tlius  'on  in  kul  signifies,  to  fall  short, 
or  to  ivant,  but  TOnn  in  hiphil  is  to  diminish,  or,  to  cause  to  ivant.  See  Isaiah 
xxxii,  6. 

9  la  the  Hebrew  text,  Moses,  tlie  nominative  case  to  three  verbs,  is  put  after 
the  last,  a  construction  very  common  in  the  ancient  languages. 


BOOK  X.  HISTORY  CONNECTED.  37 

caused  him  that  had  more,  not  to  abound,  and  him  that 
had  less,  not  to  fall  short ;  (for  they  gathered,  each  one 
according  to^  his  eating.) 

Ver.  19.  And  said.  Let  no  man  leave  of  it  till  the  morn- 
ing. 

So  that  the  fact  here  was,  that  Moses  directed  them  to  give 
to  one  another ;  they  that  had  more  than  their  measure,  to 
make  up  what  was  wanting  to  them  who  had  less ;  that  all 
might  have  their  full  quantity,  and  no  more.  3.  St,  Paul  very 
plainly  intimates  that  this  was  the  fact,  by  alluding  to  what 
the  Israelites  here  did  with  their  manna;  in  order  to  induce 
the  Corinthians  to  contribute  a  relief  to  the  poorer  Christians, 
such  as  the  Corinthians  could  at  that  time  well  spare  out  of 
their  abundance.  I  mean  not,  says  he,  that  other  men  he 
eased  and  you  burthened :  but  by  an  equality,  that  noiv  at 
this  time  your  abundance  may  be  a  supply  for  their  want, 
that  their  abundance  also  may  be  a  sujjply  for  your  want, 
that  there  inay  he  an  equality ;  as  it  is  loritten.  He  that 
had  gathered  much  had  7iothing  over,  and  he  that  had 
gathered  little  had  no  lack.^ 

Another  order  given  to  the  Israelites  about  the  manna  was, 
that  they  were  every  day  to  eat  what  they  had  gathered,  and 
to  leave  none  all  night  for  the  next  day's  provision.^  Some 
of  the  people  were  not  strictly  careful  in  this  point,  but  left 
some  of  their  manna  until  the  morning,  which  bred  wortns 
and  stank.*  Every  sixth  day,  they  were  to  gather  twice  as 
much  as  on  any  other  days,  because  the  seventh  day  was  the 
sabbath;  on  which  day  they  were  to  gather  no  manna,  nor  do 
any  sort  of  work.*  Accordingly  on  the  seventh  day  there  fell 
no  manna,  for  there  went  out  some  of  the  people  to  gather, 
but  they  found  none;*'  and  what  remained  of  the  double 
quantity,  which  the  people  gathered  on  the  sixth  day,  and  re- 
served for  the  seventh,  did  not  stink,  neither  was  there  any 
worm  therein ;  though  if  any  part  of  any  other  day's  gathering 
was  not  eaten  on  the  day  when  it  was  gathered,  it  would  no\ 
keep,  nor  be  fit  to  be  eaten  on  the  day  following.^  Thus  mi- 
raculously did  God  feed  the  people  in  the  wilderness  for  about 
forty  years;  for  they  had  this  supply  of  manna,  until  they 
came  unto  the  borders  of  the  land  of  Canaan.*^  Aaron,  directed 
by  Moses,  in  obedience  to  God's  express  command,  put  an 
omer  of  manna  into  a  pot;  in  order  to  keep  it  in  memory  of 
the  wonderful  supply  of  food,  which  God  had  thus  given 
them. 

'  The  words,  they  gathered  each  one  according  to  his  eating,  are  a  remark  by 
way  ot  parenthesis,  to  g-ive  a  reason  tor  what  Moses  directed.  He  caused 
them  that  had  over  iniicli,  to  give  to  tliem  that  had  less  than  thev  were  to 
have,  because  they  gathered,  as  we  say,  fiom  hand  to  mouth,  and'  it  would 
have  been  of  no  service  to  have  laid  up  what  they  had  to  spare. 

^  2  Corinth,  viii,  13,  M,  15,  3  Exorl.  xvi,  19, 

^  Ver.  20.  5  Ver,  23.  «  Exod.  xvi,  27, 

"  Ver.  24.  "  Exod,  xvi,  35;  Joshua  v,  12, 


3S  SACRED  AND  PROFANE         BOOK  X. 

From  the  wilderness  of  Sin,  JMoses  led  the  Israelites  to  Re- 
phidim,  making  two  short  halts  by  the  way,  which  arc  not 
mentioned  here  in  Exodus;  one  of  them  was  at  Dophkah, 
the  other  at  Alush.^  From  their  encampment  in  the  wilder- 
ness of  Sin  to  Rephidim  might  be,  I  imagine,  about  twenty 
miles.  At  Rephidim  they  were  distressed  for  want  of  water; 
and  murmured  against  Moses,  for  bringing  them,  into  ex- 
tremity, Moses  cried  unto  the  Lord,  and  received  directions 
to  smite  a  rock  at  mount  Horeb  with  the  rod,  which  he  had 
used  in  performing  the  wonders  wrought  in  Egypt;  and  upon 
his  doing  this  in  the  sight  of  the  elders  of  Israel,  God  was 
pleased  to  cause  a  river  of  water  miraculously  to  flow  out  of 
tlie  I'ock,  to  supply  their  necessities.^ 

The  most  learned  archbishop  Usher  remarks,  that  the  rock, 
out  of  which  Moses  thus  miraculously  produced  the  water, 
followed  the  Israelites  throughout  the  wilderness.^  Tertullian 
is  said  to  have  been  of  this  opinion  f  and  the  Jewish  rabbins 
were  fond  of  it.  The  most  learned  primate  says  expressly, 
that  the  rock,  which  Moses  smote,  followed  them ;  but  some 
other  writers  soften  the  prodigy,  and  assert,  that  the  water 
from  the  rock  became  a  river,  and  was  made  to  flow  after  the 
camp,  wherever  the  Israelites  journeyed,  until  they  came  to 
Kadesh.  The  reasons  given  ibr  this  opinion  are,  1.  It  is  re- 
marked, that  from  the  time  of  this  flow  of  waters  from  the 
rock  at  Horeb,  until  they  came  to  Kadesh,  the  Israelites  are  not 
said  to  have  ever  wanted  water ;''  and  it  is  argued,  that  they 
must  continually  have  wanted  it  in  their  passage  through  the 
wilderness,  if  God  had  not  thus  miraculously  supplied  them. 
2.  Some  passages  in  the  Psalms  are  thought  to  imply,  that  a 
river  from  the  rock  attended  them  in  their  journeyings.  3.  It 
is  hinted,  that  a  text  in  Deuteronomy  confirms  this  opinion; 
and  lastly,  it  is  pretended,  that  St.  Paul  says  expressly,  that 
the  rock  followed  them. 

1.  "It  is  said,  that  the  Israelites  never  wanted  water,  after 
this  supply  from  the  rock  at  Horeb,  until  they  came  to  Kadesh; 
though  the  wilderness  they  travelled  through  was  so  dry  a 
place,  that  they  could  not  have  found  water  in  it,  without  some 
continual  miracle."  To  this  I  answer,  1.  We  are  nowhere 
told  in  Scripture,  that  God  wrought  this  particular  miracle 
upon  the  rock,  in  order  to  continue  a  supply  of  water  for  the 
Israelites,  during  the  whole  time  of  their  journeying  in  the 
wilderness;  and,  if  a  miracle  was  really  necessary,  why  this 
rather  than  some  other?  The  Israelites  knew  how  to  dig  wells 

p  I  may  here  hint  once  for  all,  tliat  these,  and  tlie  other  names  we  have  of 
llie  several  ])laces  wliere  the  Israelites  made  their  encampments  in  the  wilder- 
ness,  .are  generally  names  cjiven  by  them  to  the  places  where  they  stopt,  and 
that  the  places  were  not  called  by  any  particular  names,  except  by  the  Israel- 
ites upon  account  of  their  encampln'jj  at  them. 

1  Exod  xvii,  5,  6.  "  Usher's  Annals. 

3  Hxc  est  aqua,  qux  de  comltc  peti-.'i  populo  di-fluebat.  Tertullian.  de 
Baptismc  '  Numb.  xx. 


BOOK  X.  HISTORY  CONNECTED.  39 

when  they  wanted  water;  and  it  is  probable  that  they  dug 
many  in  their  passage  through  the  wilderness,  as  we  read  they 
dug  one  at  Beer  :^  and  it  is  reasonable  to  suppose  that  God 
might  frequently  give  them  ivater,^  by  causing  them,  when 
they  dug  for  it,  to  find  water-springs  in  a  dry  ground;'^  than 
to  suppose  that  a  mountainous  rock  moved  after  them  in  their 
journeyings,  or  that  any  streams  from  it  became  a  river,  and 
was  made  to  form  itself  a  channel  to  flow  to  them  in  all  their 
movements.     2.  But  though  the  wilderness  was  indeed  a  dry 
place,  and  may  in  general  terms  be  called  a  dry  and  thirsty 
land,  where  no  water  is  f  though  the  Israelites  complained 
of  it  as  such,^  and  the  heathen  writers  give  it  this  character;^ 
yet  we   must  not  take  their   expressions   so   strictly,  as  to 
imagine  that  no  water  was  to  be  found  in  any  parts  of  it. 
Strabo  speaks  of  fosses  of  water  in  the  driest  deserts  5^  and 
from  Diodorus  we  may  collect,  that  in  the  most  unpromis- 
ing parts  of  this  country  there  were  proper  places  to  sink 
wells,  which   would   afford  abundance   of  water.^      The  Is- 
raelites might  be  reduced  to  difficulties  in  many  places,  but 
unquestionably  in  others  they  found  receptacles  of  water  of 
divers  sorts;*  so  that  the  true  reason  why  we  read  of  no  mi- 
raculous supply  of  water,  from  the  time  of  their  leaving  Ho- 
reb  until  they  came  to  Kadesh,  may  be  their  not  necessarily 
wanting  such  a  supply  in  that  interval.     But, 

II.  It  is  represented,  that  from  Psalms,  Ixxviii,  16 — 20,  cv, 
41,  it  may  be  justly  inferred,  that  rivers  of  water  flowed  from 
the  rock  after  the  Israelites,  in  their  several  marches.  I  an- 
swer :  The  expressions  cited  from  the  Psalmist  prove  only, 
that  the  rock  smote  by  Moses  poured  forth  a  large  quantity 
of  water.  God  brought  streams  out  of  the  rock,  and  caused 
waters  to  run  down  like  rivers.  He  opened  the  rock,  arid 
the  waters  gushed  out;  they  ran  in  the  dry  places  like  a 
river.  Philo  the  Jew  relates,  that,  upon  Moses  striking  the 
rock,  the  water  poured  out  like  a  torrent,  affording  them  not 
only  a  sufficient  quantity  for  the  allaying  their  present  thirst, 
but  to  fill  their  water  vessels ;  in  order  to  carry  away  water 
with  them,  when  they  marched  forwards.*  A  very  consider- 
able supply  must  be  wanted  by  so  large  a  multitude,  and  the 
words  of  the  Psalmist  well  describe  such  a  supply;  but  they 
do  in  nowise  intimate,  that  rivers  from  the  rock  followed 

5  Numb,  xxi,  16.  6  See  ver.  18.  ■?  Psalm  cvii,  35. 

s  Psalm  Ixiii,  1.  ^  Numbers  xxi,  5. 

1  EpjMoc  xM  ctvuS'poc  ig-i.  Diodor.  Sic.  lib.  ii,  c.  54;  vid.  Strab.  Geog.  lib.  xvi. 

^  hixuy.zi  yyi  K'xt  KvTTpn  po/v/Jisc  i^a^A  cxiyxi k-j.1  opuKlti  vS^a/ra..     Sirab.  Geog, 

lib.  xvi. 

3  K«T*  yAf  Tuv  a.rjS'pcv  ;^a)/J*v  Xiyoy.iv>iv  xa7aa'ASw:t^ovTec  ivKMOA  ^fixTU. — yjWTS.i 
Sit.-\iKi<n  TTOTCK.     Diodor.  lib    ii.  c.  48 

^  Tlctm  Tnrpxv,  >i  Si  x-pntuScv  nc^urut,  ce;  y.ii  rori  ju.ovov  ?rctptta-^iiv  cui'j;  J';^f•8?,  axxct  xui 
Ttfoi  TTKiiCfH  yjoyov  rcs-Avriu;  /xuftiuj-iv  np^cvtav  Tnm'  Trt  y^  uSpiia.  tavIx  irJoipm^'jiV,  ac 
KXi  TTpcTifov  d.7fi  Tim  7tvy-ai\\  0.1  TTinpAi  /ntv  «9"«v  ^VTH,  fAiTiCdhoira  J'i  iTTiffOirwyi  SfltX  'O'p:' 
T4  yKvKiiv.     PhJlo  de  Vit.  Mosis,  1.  i, 


40  SACRED  AN'D  PROFANE  HOOK  X. 

them,  when  they  left  the  place  where  the  supply  was  given. 
But, 

III.  Moses,  Deut.  ix,  21,  mentions  a  river,  or  brook,  which 
descended  out  of  the  mount,  and  flowed  near  the  camp,  after 
the  Israelites  were  departed  from  Rephidim,  and  were  en- 
camped at  mount  Sinai."  Now  if  this  brook  was  a  river, 
which  flowed  from  mount  Horeb,  it  could  be  none  other  than 
that  which  was  caused  by  Moses  striking  the  rock;  for  before 
that  miracle  there  was  no  water;  and  if  it  came  from  hence, 
it  seems  evident,  that  the  stream  of  this  water  flowed  near  the 
camp,  after  they  had  left  Rephidim,  the  place  where  the  sup- 
ply was  first  given.  But  a  few  observations  will  set  this  fact 
in  a  clear  light:  and,  1.  I  think  it  evident,  that  no  supply  of 
water  was  given  to  the  Israelites  from  any  rock  at  Rephi- 
dim. The  direction  to  Moses,  when  he  cried  unto  the  Lord, 
was  to  take  the  elders  of  Israel  with  him,  and  to  go  from  Re- 
phidim, the  place  where  the  Israelites  were  encamped,  unto 
Horeb,  and  there  to  smite  a  rock,  in  order  to  obtain  water;'' 
so  that  the  supply  of  water  was  not  obtained  at  Rephidim, 
where  the  Israelites  were  encamped,  but  at  a  place  some  dis- 
tance from  Rephidim,  whither  not  the  people  but  the  elders 
of  Israel  accompanied  Moses,  and  where  what  he  did  was 
done,  not  in  the  sight  of  the  congregation,  but  in  the  sight  of 
the  elders  of  Israel.^  2,  Horeb  and  Sinai  were  near  and  con- 
tiguous to  one  another,  being  only  different  cliffs  of  one  and 
the  same  mountain,  which  appears  evident  from  several  pas- 
sages in  the  books  of  Moses,  When  God  delivered  the  com- 
mandments in  an  audible  voice  from  mount  Sinai,^  he  is  said 
to  speak  unto  them  in  Horeb.'  And  when  the  people  stood 
before  the  Lord  their  God,  under  the  mountain,  and  the 
mountain  burned  with  fire,^  which  mountain  was  unquestion- 
ably mount  Sinai,^  they  stood  before  the  Lord  in  Horeb."* 
And  in  the  day  of  their  assembly,  when  they  desired  not  to 
hear  the  voice  of  the  Lord  any  more,*  which  petition  was 
made  when  they  were  assembled  at  mount  Sinai,^  they  are 
said  to  be  at  Horeb.^  From  these  and  many  other  passages, 
which  might  be  cited,  it  appears,  either  according  to  St.  Je- 
rome, that  Horeb  and  Sinai  were  but  two  names  for  one  and 
the  same  mount;*  or  rather  they  were  two  mountains  so  con- 
tiguous, that  whilst  the  people  lay  encamped  at  the  foot  of 
them,  they  might  be  said  to  be  at  either.  Therefore,  3.  The 
water  which  Moses  obtained  from  the  rock  at  Horeb,  might 
supply  the  camp  all  the  time  the  Israelites  were  at  Sinai, 

«  Exodus  xix,  2.  '  Ibid,  xvji,  5,  6, 

«  Ibid,  »  Ibid,  XX.  '  Deut.  i,  19. 

2  Chap,  iv,  10,  11.  3  Exodus  xix,  18. 

*  Deut.  iv,  10.  *  Chap,  xviii,  16. 

«  Exodus  XX,  19.  ■^  Deut.  xviii,  16, 

^  Mihi  autem  videtur,  quod  duplici  nomine  idem  mons,  nunc  Sina,  nunc 
Choreb  vocclur,    Hicron.  dc  locis  Hch. 


BOOK  X.  HISTORY  CONNECTED.  41 

without  the  rock's  moving  from  its  place;  for  they  were  en- 
camped very  near  the  rock  from  whence  this  supply  of  water 
was  given,  all  the  time  they  were  at  Sinai.  4.  We  need  not 
suppose,  that  the  water,  which  God  was  pleased  to  give  at  Ho- 
reb,  ceased  to  flow,  as  soon  as  the  Israelites  were  relieved  by 
it.  It  is  more  reasonable  to  imagine,  that  God  directed  Mo- 
ses to  strike  a  place  where  there  was  naturally  a  spring, 
though,  until  the  rock  was  opened,  the  water  was  bound 
down  to  subterraneous  passages;  but  after  it  had  taken  vent, 
it  might  become  a  fountain,  and  continue  to  flow,  not  only 
whilst  the  Israelites  continued  in  these  parts,  but  to  future 
ages.  It  might  cause  the  brook,  which  descended  out  of  the 
mouat,  and  supplied  them  with  water  all  the  time  they  lay 
encamped  here,  and  the  brook  caused  by  it  may,  perhaps,  run 
to  this  day.^  But,  though  this  may  be  true,  yet  it  will  not 
hence  follow,  that  the  streams  of  this  brook  flowed  after  the 
camp,  when  they  departed  from  Horeb,  and  took  their  jour- 
nies  out  of  the  wilderness  of  Sinai  into  the  wilderness  of 
Paran. 

But,  IV.  The  chief  argument,  for  supposing  that  the  rock 
followed  the  Israelites  in  their  journeys  through  the  wilder- 
ness, is  taken  from  the  words  of  St.  Paul,  1  Cor.  x,  4,  who 
says.  Our  fathers  did  all  drink  the  s,ame  spiritual  drink 
(for  they  drank  of  that  spiritual  Rock,  which  folloioed 
them,  and  that  Rock  was  Christ.)  But  I  think  it  is  very 
evident,  that  the  apostle  here  speaks  not  of  the  rock  of  Horeb, 
but  of  Christ,  who,  though  invisible,  was  the  spiritual  sup- 
port of  the  Israelites  in  the  wilderness.  In  ver.  3,  he  alludes 
to  the  manna  which  was  given  them ;  but  then  treats  of  the 
spiritual  meat  which  sustained  them,  designing  to  turn  the 
thoughts  of  the  Corinthians  from  the  manna  to  God,  who  gave 
the  manna  and  made  it  a  sufficient  nourishment  to  his  people  : 
Man  liveth  not  by  bread  alone}  The  manna  of  itself  had 
been  but  a  very  slender  provision;  but,  by  the  direction  of 
God,  the  morning  dew  would  have  been  an  abundant  supply; 
or  he  could,  if  he  had  pleased,  as  well  have  sustained  them  the 
whole  forty  years  without  any  food  at  all,  as  he  did  Moses  in 
the  mount  forty  days  and  forty  nights,  without  eating  bread 
or  drinking  water.  We  must  not  therefore  look  at  the  manna, 
as  if  that  were  sufficient  to^  nourish  the  people ;  but  consider 
the  power  of  God,  who  was  their  spiritual  meat,  and  invisibly 
supported  them.     In  the  same  manner  we  must  consider  the 


%  We  fiiid  from  the  accounts  of  modern  travellers,  that  there  runs  now  a 
brook  from  mount  Horeb,  which  supplies  water  to  the  monaster)'  called  St. 
Saviour's,  being  a  Greek  convent  situate  at  the  foot  of  the  mountain.  Chore- 
bus,  says  Belonius,  lib.  ii,  c.  63,  commodissimo  fonte  instructus  est ;  and  in  c. 
62,  speaking  of  the  convent,  he  says,  Monasterium  aqua  abundat :  rivus  enim 
ex  monte  deHuens  monachorum  cisternam  replet  aqua  limpida,  frlgidJ,  dulci, 
denique  optima,  Stc. 

«  Matt,  iv,  4;  Dcut.  viii,  3.  -  Deut.  viii,  3  ;  xxix,  6, 

Vol.  III.  F 


42  SACRED  AND  PROFANE         BOOK  X. 

supply  they  had  of  drink.  The  rock  at  Horeb,  struck  by  the 
rod  of  Moses,  sent  forth  waters;  but  the  benefit  was  not  owing 
to  the  rock,  but  to  Christ,  who  was  the  spiritual  and  invisi- 
ble rock  of  his  people;  who  by  his  power  gave  them  this  sup- 
ply, and  whose  presence  was  with  them,  not  only  at  this  time, 
but  in  all  their  journeyings.  The  meaning  of  St.  Paul  is  very 
plain  and  easy;  and  we  evidently  play  with  the  letter,  instead 
of  attending  to  the  design  of  his  words,  if  we  infer  from  them, 
that  the  rock  at  Horeb,  or  any  water  from  it,  followed  the  Is- 
raelites through  the  wilderness.  Upon  the  whole,  if  we  had 
any  authority  from  Scripture  to  say,  that  the  rock  at  Horeb 
followed  the  camp,  or  that  the  waters  from  Horeb  flowed  af- 
ter the  Israelites,  we  should  have  no  reason  to  question  the 
fact.  The  power  of  God  could  have  caused  either ;  but  nei- 
ther Moses  nor  any  other  sacred  writer  says  any  thing  like  it, 
nor  was  any  such  fact  known  to  either  Philo  or  Josephus  ;  so 
that  I  think  it  a  mere  fiction^  of  the  Rabbins,  and  that  it  ought 
to  be  rejected.  A  due  application  will  enable  every  sober 
querist  to  vindicate  the  miracles  recorded  in  Scripture;  but  it 
is  an  idle  labour,  and  will  prove  of  disservice  to  religion,  to 
add  miracles  of  our  own  making  to  those  which  the  Scriptures 
set  before  us. 

Whilst  the  Israelites  were  at  Rephidim,  the  Amalekites, 
near  whose  country  they  then  encamped,"*  attacked  them,* 
whereupon  Moses  ordered  Joshua  to  choose  out  a  number  of 
the  ablest  men  to  sustain  the  assault,  and  he  himself  went  up 
the  hill  with  his  rod  in  his  hand,  and  Aaron  and  Hur  with 
him.''  The  battle  had  many  turns :  whilst  Moses  held  up  his 
hands  the  Israelites  had  the  better;  but  whenever  he  let  his 
hand  fall,  the  Amalekites  prevailed.^  Upon  observing  this 
event,  Aaron  and  Hur,  Moses  being  quite  tired,  caused  him 
to  sit  down  upon  a  stone,  and  supported  his  hands  all  the  re- 
mainder of  the  day  until  the  evening ;  and  upon  this  Joshua 
obtained  a  complete  victory  over  the  Amalekites.^  Then  the 
Lord  ordered  Moses  to  leave  it  upon  record,  and  to  remind 
Joshua  that  it  was  his  design  utterly  to  extirpate  the  Amalek- 
ites;^ which  purpose  of  God  was  revealed  to  Balaam;^  and 
Moses,  according  to  the  directions  given  him  to  write  it  in  a 
book/  took  care  to  record  it  in  his  book  of  Deuteronomy,  in 

3  The  Rabbins  were  fruitful  inventors  of  tliis  sort  of  miracles.  Jonathan  I). 
Uziel  says  of  the  well,  which  the  Israelites  dug-  at  Beer,  that  Abraham  and 
Isaac  and  Jacob  first  dug  it ;  but  that  Moses  and  Aaron  drew  it  after  tlicm  into 
the  wilderness  by  the  rod,  and  tliat  it  followed  them  up  high  hills,  and  down 
into  low  vallies,  and  went  round  about  tlie  camp  of  the  Israelites,  and  gave 
every  one  drink  at  his  tent-door,  and  that  it  f()llo\ved  tiiem  until  ihey  canie<o 
the  borders  of  the  land  of  Moab,  but  that  they  lost  it  upon  the  top"  of  a  hill 
over  against  Beth-Jeshimon.     See  Targum  Jonathan  on  Numbers  xxxi, 

«  The  country  of  the  Amalekites  lay  next  to  Sier.    Gen.  xiv,  7. 

*  See  Deut.  xxv,  18.  e  Exod.  xvii,  9,  10. 
1  Ver.  11.  8  Ver.  11,  12,  13. 

5  Ver.  14.  '  Numb,  xxiv,  20, 

*  Exod.  xvii,  14. 


UOOK  X.  HISTORY  CONNECTED.  43 

the  most  express  terms.^  And  because  God  had  vouchsafed 
the  Israelites  this  victory  upon  the  holding  up  his  hands,  he^ 
in  order  to  give  God  the  glory,  and  not  to  take  the  honour  to 
himself,  built  an  altar  in  memory  of  it,  and  called  it  Jehovah 
Nissi,  or  the  Lord  is  he  who  exalteth  me;*  and  he  declared 
to  the  Israelites,  that  for  this  base  attempt  against  them,  the 
Lord  would  war  against  the  Amalekites  from  generation  to 
generation.* 

This  certainly  must  be  the  meaning  of  the  16th  verse  of  the 
xviith  chapter  of  Exodus :  the  Hebrew  words  are  difficult  to 
be  translated,  and  I  think  none  of  the  versions  express  clearly 
the  sense  of  them.  We  render  the  place,  Foy^  he  said,  Be- 
cause, the  Lord  hath  sworn,  that  the  Lord  will  have  ivar 
with  Amalek,  &c.  The  vulgar  Latin  translation  runs  thus,  Quia 
Tnanus  solii  Domini,  et  helium  Domini,  erit  contra  Jimalek: 
i.  e.  Because  the  hand  of  the  throne  of  the  Lord,  and  the 
war  of  the  Lord  will  he  against  Amalek.^  This  version 
rather  shows  that  the  translators  were  at  a  loss  how  to  render 
the  place  intelligibly,  than  expresses  the  true  meaning  of  it. 

The  LXX  say,  otv  iv  ;t£ipt  x^v^ata.  rtoXi^Yi  0  ©sof  iTii,  Afi.aX'tjx'  i.  e. 

That  the  Lord  fights  [with  a  hidden  hand]  i.  e.  secretly 
against  Amalek.  The  sense  here  is  clear  and  plain  ;  but 
there  are  no  words  in  the  Hebrew  text  to  answer  to  iv  x^i-e.^' 
x^Dfata,  ivith  a  liidden  hand.''  The  Hebrew  words  are,  Ci 
yad  7\al  Ces  Jah  Milcamah  Lahovah  ha  Nam,alek ;  which 
verbally  translated  are,  Because  the  hand  upon  the  throne  of 
the  Lord,  war  to  the  Lord  against  Jimalek.^  The  place 
has  evidently  the  following  difficulties.  \.  There  must  be 
some  words  understood  to  fill  up  the  sentence.  The  hand 
upon  the  throne  of  the  Lord  war  against  tdmalek,  must  be 
supposed  to  be  the  same  as,  the  hand  of  the  Lord  is  upon 
his  throne,  that  there  shall  be  war  against  Jimalek.  The 
sentence  must  be  thus  transposed  and  filled  up  to  make  it  bear 
any  sense.     2.  In  order  to  its  bearing  the  sense,  which  our 


3  Deut.  XXV,  17,  18, 19.  <  Exod.  xvii,  15. 

5  Ver.  16  ;  Deut.  xxv,  17,  18,  19. 

'^  Ecce  manus  super  sedem,  bellum  Domini  cum  Amjilek,  &c.  Vers  Syriac. 
Nunc  est  mihi  quod  jiirem  per  solium,  quod  erit  Deo  bellum  in  Amalekitas. 
Vers.  Arabic.  Cum  juramento  dictum  est  hoc  d  facie  terribilis,  cujus  Majestas 
est  super  solium  glorije,  fore,  ut  committatur  praelium  a  facie  Domini  contra 
viros  domus  Amalecli.     Targum  Onkelos. 

'  It  has  been  suggested  to  me  by  a  very  learned  friend,  that  the  two  words 
r\>  03,  which  in  the  present  Hebrew  text  stand  next  to  one  another,  might  per- 
haps be  taken  by  the  LXX  to  have  been  originally  but  one  word,  n^iD3,  and  they 
might  derive  such  a  word  from  nD3  casah,  to  cover,  and  imagine  th;.t  n>iD3  Vy 
might  be  rendered  in  secret,  or  covertly .-  but  if  this  may  be  a  just  correction 
and  translation  of  the  texi,  the  LXX  should  have  rendered  the  verse  to  this 
purpose,  rather  than  as  they  have  translated  it.  Because  his  (i.  e.  Amalck's) 
hand  has  been  covertlij  against  you,  the  LonD  -will  have  ivar  with  Amulek,  &c. 

«  The  Hebrew  words  are, 
pScyj  T\>rvh      ann'jD       ns  dd  hy  ^^         o 

Amalek  contra  .Jehovah  bellum  Domini  thronum  supra  manus  quia. 


44  SACRED  AND  PROFANE         HOOK  X. 

English  version  puts  upon  it,  The  hand  of  the  Lord  is  upon 
his  throne,  must  be  supposed  to  signify,  God  has  sworn,  liis 
laying  his  hand  upon  his  throne  must  import  his  taking  an 
oath.  But,  3.  In  all  the  Old  Testament,  though  the  expres- 
sion of  God's  having  sworn  occurs  almost  thirty  times,  yet  it 
is  not,  I  think,  once  expressed  in  words  like  what  we  here 
meet  with,  but  always  by  the  verb  (j^^ty)  shaban.  The  Lord 
hath  sworn  is  (mn"'  yy^i)  Nishban  Jehovah.^  The  annotators 
are  at  a  loss  to  ascertain  the  sense  of  the  place;  and  certainly 
the  Hebrew  words,  as  our  present  copies  run,  are  very  hard  to 
be  reconciled  to  any  sense  whatsoever,  unless  we  admit  a  very 
unusual  cxpicssion  for  God  hath  sioorn,  which  is  not  to  be 
met  with  in  any  other  place  of  Scripture.  As  to  the  LXX, 
they  might  perhaps  think  the  place  corrupted  by  transcribers; 
and  by  putting  in  sv  arst^t  xpr^ata,  instead  of  rendering  the 
Hebrew  words,  they  rather  guessed  what  might  make  the 
passage  good  sense,  than  had  authority  for  their  translation. 
If  I  may  be  indulged  the  liberty,  1  could  suggest  what  would 
give  the  place  a  clear  meaning,  without  varying  much  from 
the  present  Hebrew  text.  The  reason  given  in  Deuteronomy 
why  Amalek  should  be  utterly  destroyed  is,  because  he  here 
attacked  the  Israelites.  The  words  of  Moses  are,  Rememher 
lohat  Jimalek  did  unto  thee  by  the  way — how  he  met  thee, 
and  smote  the  hindmost  of  thee,  &c.  Therefore  it  shall  be, 
when  the  Lord  thy  God  hath  given  thee  rest — that  thou 
shall  blot  out  the  remembrance  of  Jimalek  from  under 
Heaven:  thou  shall  not  forget  it.^  This  was  the  reason  why 
God  determined  to  have  war  with  Amalek;  because  he  here 
basely  assaulted  the  Israelites.  Now  let  us  suppose  the  true 
reading  of  the  passage  before  us  should  be  thus :  Ci  Jad  nal 
Cevi,  jchi  Milchemah  Lahovah  be  Nainalek,"^  which  trans- 
lated word  for  word  is,  Because  his  hand  hath  been  against 
you,  the  Lord  ivill haveivar  loilh  Jimalek,  &c.  The  emen- 
dation of  the  text  is  very  little  :  DD  might  be  easily  written 
□D,  the  letters  arc  so  similar  that  the  difference  is  scarcely 
perceptible;  rv  might  be  written  for  '7V;  for  the  final  ^  might 
easily  be  omitted  by  no  very  careless  transcriber.  And  this 
very  small  emendation  will  restore  the  text  to  admit  an  easy 

9  Gen.  xxii,  16;  Judges  ii,  16;   1  Sam.  Hi,  14;  2  Sam.  ii.  9;  Psalm  ex,  4; 
Isaiah  xiv,  24,  Ixii,  3  ;  Amos  iv,  2,  Stc. 

1  Dcut.xxv,  17,  18,  19. 

-   pScpa  TWTfh      nnnSo    'H''    oa     Sv  t       o 

Amalek  contra  Jehovah  bellum  erit  vos  contra  manns  quia 

1.  e. 
ejus 
^dS  is  vobis,  Exodus  xvi,  23.  In  like  m.anner  Vj?  sij^nifying  contra,  a2^y  may 
be  contra  vox,  or  perhaps  it  was  written  oa-iSj)  more  at^reeably  to  the  Hebrew 
regimen.  It  may  pcrhajjs  be  liere  remarked,  that  ^Milcliemali  is  a  noun  femi- 
nine, that  1  put  tlie  verl)  Jehi  m  the  masculmc  termination,  contrary  to  true 
hvntax.  Ihit  to  tiiis  I  tliiiik  1  may  .nnswcr,  that  the  Hebrew  language  is  not  al- 
ways  critically  exact  in  this  particuhir.  Vid.  Capell.  Crlt.  Sac.  lib.  iii,  c.  16; 
Si  lib.  vi,  c.  8.' 


BOOK  X.  HISTORY  CONNECTED.  45 

and  clear  meaning,  and  supposes  Moses  to  hint  here  the  very 
thing  which  he  expressed  afterwards  more  copiously,  when 
he  came  to  write  what  he  was  directed  to  transmit  to  posterity 
upon  this  occasion.^ 

Soon  after  this  victory  over  the  Amalekites,  Jethro  the 
priest  of  Midian,  Moses's  father-in-law,  came  with  Zipporah 
his  daughter,  the  wife  of  Moses,  and  her  two  children,  Ger- 
shom  and  Eliezer,  into  the  wilderness  to  the  camp  at  mount 
Horeb."*  Moses  received  him  with  the  utmost  respect,  and 
told  him  all  the  wonderful  works  which  had  been  wrought 
for  their  deliverance.*  Jethro  full  of  joy  gave  praise  to  God 
for  his  favours  to  them;°  and  oflered  a  sacrifice  of  thanksgiv- 
ing, and  invited  Aaron  and  the  elders  of  Israel  to  it.^  The 
day  after,  seeing  Moses  engaged  all  day  long  in  determining 
little  controversies,  he  observed  to  him,  that  he  was  fallen  into 
a  way,  which  would  be  full  of  fatigue  to  himself,  and  not  give 
a  due  dispatch  to  the  public  business.  Therefore  he  advised 
him  to  range  the  people  in  classes  of  thousands,  hundreds, 
fifties,  and  tens,  and  to  appoint  proper  officers  over  the  several 
classes,  and  reserve  only  matters  of  appeal  and  of  the  highest 
moment  to  his  own  decision.^  Moses  approved  of  this  advice 
of  Jethro,  and  according  to  it  appointed  such  officers  as  he  had 
directed,  to  hear  and  decide  the  lesser  controversies,  and  to 
dispense  justice  under  him  unto  the  people.^ 

A  noble  author  makes  the  following  reflection  upon  Jethro's 
advice  here  given  to  Moses.  He  says,  that  "the  great  founder 
of  the  Hebrew  state  had  not  perfected  his  model,  until  he 
consulted  the  foreign  priest,  his  father-ia-law,  to  whose  advice 
he  paid  such  remarkable  deference."^  The  reflection  in- 
sinuates, that  a  part  of  the  Jewish  polity  was  a  contrivance  of 
Jethro,  and  therefore  that  the  whole  cannot  be  pretended  to 
be  a  divine  institution.  In  answer  hereto,  I  would  observe, 
1.  That  the  advice  which  Jethro  gave  Moses,  and  what  Moses 
did  upon  it,  was  not  to  perfect  his  model,  as  this  noble  writer 
is  pleased  to  call  it;  for  the  advice  was  given  and  first  exe- 
cuted, before  there  were  any  steps  at  all  taken  towards  form- 
ing the  Jewish  polity;  befoz'e  God  had  given  Moses  any  laws 

5  Deut.  XXV,  17,  18,  19. 

■*  Exodus  xviii.  I  find  some  writers  imagine,  that  Jethro's  coming  to  Moses 
was  not  thus  early.  F.  Simon  says,  that  .Jethro  seems  not  to  have  come  till  the 
second  year  after  the  finishing  of  the  tabernacle,  as  may  be  proved  out  of  Deu- 
teronomy. The  learned  father  has  not  cited  any  passage  in  Deuteronomy  to 
to  support  his  opinion ;  and  I  cannot  find  any,  which  appears  to  me  to  favour  it. 
Aaron  and  the  elders  of  Israel  coming  to  Jethro's  sacrifice,  liints  to  me,  that 
the  law  was  not  yet  given,  nor  Aaron  consecrated  to  the  priesthood ;  for  if  it 
had  been  given,  Jethro  might  perhaps  have  been  admitted  to  Aaron's  sacrifice ; 
but  Aaron  and  the  Israelites  would  not,  1  think,  have  partook  of  Jethro's  ;  and 
therefore  Jethro's  coming  to  Moses  must  have  been  just  after  the  victory  over 
the  Amalekites,  as  soon  as  they  came  to  Sinai ;  and  to  this  time,  I  think,  the 
account  of  Moses,  Exodus  xviii,  5,  does  well  fix  it. 

5  Exod.  xviii,  8,  6  Ver.  9.  ^  Ver.  12.  ^  Ver.  13—24, 

9  Ver,  25.  I  Lord  Shaftesbury's  Charact.  vol.iii,  p.  58. 


46  SACRED  AND  PROFANE         BOOK  X. 

at  all  for  the  constitution  of  the  Jewish  state.  But,  2.  What 
Jethro  here  advised  Moses  to,  though  Moses  followed  the 
advice  at  the  time  it  was  given,  nay  and  afterwards  made  use 
of  it  again,  when  circumstances  required;  was  yet  never  made 
an  essential  part  of  the  Jewish  constitution.  If  we  look  for 
the  institutions,  which  Moses  has  delivered  down  to  us  as  dic- 
tated by  God,  for  the  government  of  the  people,  we  shall  fmd 
these  only :  Moses  was  at  first  their  sole  leader  and  governor, 
and  Jethro  found  him  acting  without  assistants  in  this  capa- 
city .^  When  Moses  was  called  up  into  mount  Sinai,  Aaron 
and  Hur  were  to  supply  his  place.^  After  this  Aaron  and  his 
sons  were  appointed  to  the  priests'  office;^  some  time  after, 
twelve  persons  were  named,  one  out  of  every  tribe,  to  be 
princes  of  the  tribes  of  their  fathers,  heads  of  thousands  in  Is- 
rael, and  assistants  to  Moses  and  Aaron  in  the  government  of 
the  people.^  The  Levites  were  selected  to  be  over  the  taber- 
nacle, and  to  minister  unto  it,^  and  upon  Moses's  complaint, 
that  his  burden  was  too  great,  and  that  he  wanted  more  as- 
sistants, God  appointed  seventy  elders,  and  put  his  spirit  upon 
them,  that  they  might  bear  the  burden  of  the  people  with 
Moses,  and  that  he  might  not  bear  it  himself  alone.''  These 
all  were  indeed  appointed  to  their  respective  offices  by  divine 
institution,  and  these  were  all  the  officers  who  were  really  so 
appointed.  As  to  the  rulers  of  thousands,  of  hundreds,  of 
fifties,  and  of  tens,  when  Jethro  advised  Moses  to  appoint 
them;  he  indeed  intimated  to  him  to  consult,  if  God  would 
command  him  to  institute*  them:  but  we  are  not  told  that 
Moses  did  so;  but  that  he  hearkened  to  the  voice  of  his  fa- 
ther-in-law, and  did  all  that  he  had  said,  and  chose  able 
men,  and  made  them  rulers  of  thousands,  rulers  of  hun- 
dreds, rulers  of  fifties,  and  rulers  of  tens.^  So  that  the  text 
evidently  suggests,  that  Moses  first  instituted  these  officers, 
not  by  divine  command,  but  by  Jethro's  direction.  In  like 
manner,  when  Moses  afterwards  revived  these  officers  (for 
upon  God's  giving  the  law,  and  appointing  priests  and  Levites, 
heads  of  tribes,  and  princes  of  the  congregation,  the  people 
must  have  been  new  modelled ;  and  whatever  appointments 
Moses  had  before  made  prudentially,  must  of  course  have 
gone  out  of  use,  and  been  abolished  by  the  newer  institutions;) 
I  say,  when  Moses  found  it  expedient  to  revive  the  offices  of 
the  rulers  of  thousands,  of  hundreds,  of  fifties,  and  of  tens,  he 
in  nowise  hints  that  he  had  any  direction  from  God  for  so 
doing;  but  entirely  represents  it  as  a  scheme  agreed  upon  by 
himself  and  the  people.  Moses  found  the  people  so  multiplied, 
as  to  be  too  many^  to  be  well  managed  in  the  hands  of  those 

2  Exod.  xviii,  14.  ^  Chap,  xxiv,  14. 

*  Chap,  xxviii.  ■'  Numbers  i,  4 — 16. 

6  Ver.  50  ;  see  chap.  iii.  '  Numbers  xi,  16,  17- 

8  Exod.  xviii,  2o.  ^  Ver.  24,  25, 
»  Deut,  i,  9, 10. 


BOOK  X.  HISTORY  CONNECTED.  47 

he  had  to  assist  him ;  this  he  represented  to  the  people,  and 
recommended  to  them  to  choose  proper  persons  for  him  to 
make  rulers  over  them.^  The  people  approved  of  what  he 
had  recommended  f  and  accordingly,  with  their  consent,  he 
appointed  these  officers.'*  Moses  spake  unto  the  people,  say- 
ing, I  am  7iot  able  to  bear  you  myself  alone:  The  Lord 
your  God  hath  multiplied  you — Hoio  can  I  hear  your  cum- 
brance,  and  your  burthen,  and  your  strife^  Take  ye  tvise 
and  understanding  tnen,  and  known  among  your  tribes, 
and  I  will  m.ake  thein  rulers  over  you.  Jlnd  ye  answered 
■me,  and  said.  The  thing  which  thou  hast  spoken  is  good  for 
us  to  do.  So  I  took  the  chief  of  your  tribes,  wise  men  and 
known,  and  made  them  heads  over  you,  captains  over  thou- 
sands, and  captains  over  hundreds,  and  captains  over  f flies, 
and  captains  over  tens,  and  officers  among  your  tribes.  Jind 
I  charged  your  judges  at  that  time,  saying.  Hear  the  causes 
between  your  brethren,  and  judge  righteously,  <§'C.  Moses 
has  pretty  well  fixed  for  us  the  time  of  his  thus  reinstituting 
these  officers.  It  was  upon  the  removal  of  the  camp  from 
Sinai  to  go  into  the  wilderness  of  Paran.^  The  Lord  spake 
unto  hitn,  saying^  Ye  have  dwelt  long  enough  in  this 
inount:  turn  you,  and  take  your  journey,  and  go  to  the 
mount  of  the  Jimorites,  and  unto  all  the  places  nigh  there- 
unto: and  at  that  time  Moses^  spake  unto  the  people,  about 
appointing  these  officers.  A  few  days  after  this,  the  seventy 
elders  were  appointed,  for  they  were  appointed  at  Taberah,  or 
Kibroth  Hattaavah;^  and  the  camp  had  marched  three  days 
successively,  before  they  came  hither.^  Moses  found  that  the 
appointment  of  the  officers  agreed  upon  by  the  people  did  not 
fully  answer  their  occasions,  and  that  he  wanted  not  only  offi- 
cers under  himself  to  execute  his  orders,  and  determine  smaller 
matters,  but  assistants  of  more  influence,  who  might  with  him- 
self direct  in  matters  of  greater  moment.  But  for  these  he 
does  not  apply  to  the  congregation,  as  he  did  for  the  others, 
but  immediately  to  God  ;  and  these  were  not  instituted  upon 
the  people's  approving  the  thing  he  had  spoken  to  be  good 
for  them  to  do,i  but  here  God  expressly  ordered  him  to  gather 
to  him  seventy  men  of  the  elders  of  Israel,  and  told  him,  that 
he  would  come  down  and  talk  with  him,  and  give  them  of 
his  spirit  to  make^  them  sufficient  for  the  employment  to 
which  they  were  to  be  appointed.  Thus  we  may  see  a  very 
remarkable  difference  in  the  institution  of  the  officers  upon 
which  our  noble  author  has  remarked,  if  compared  with  those 
who  were  appointed  by  divine  direction.  I  might  go  farther, 
and  observe,  that  the  several  officers,  whom  God  had  appoint- 
ed, continued  to  have  their  name,  title,  and  authority  througit 

2  Ver.  12,  13.  3  Ver.  14.  ■»  Ibid. 

5  Compare  Deut.  i,  6,  7,  with  Niiiribers  x,  11,  12,  &;c. 

«  Deut.  i,  6,  7.  "  Deut.  i,  9.  8  Numb.  xi. 

»  Chap.  X,  33.  '  Deut.  i,  14.  ^  Numb,  xi,  l&,  17. 


48  SACRED  AND  PROFANE        BOOK  X. 

all  the  changes  of  the  Jewish  state.  The  priests,  t'he  Levites, 
the  heads  of  tribes,  the  seventy  elders  had,  all  of  them,  their 
stated  and  respective  offices  and  employments;  not  only  under 
Moses,  but  under  Joshua,  in  the  time  of  the  judges,  under  the 
kings,  in  all  times,  and  under  all  revolutions.  But  as  to  the 
captains  of  thousands,  hundreds,  of  fifties,  and  of  tens,  as  their 
institution  was  not  of  divine  authority,  so  their  office  was  not 
thus  fixed  nor  lasting.  Moses  did  not  bind  his  successors  to 
the  use  of  them.  God  had  not  prescribed  them  to  him,  neither 
did  he  prescribe  them  to  them ;  for  he  only  gave  the  Israelites 
a  general  rule,  to  make  themselves  judges  and  officers  in  all 
their  gates  throughout  their  tribes,  to  judge  the  people  with 
just  judgment.^  Accordingly,  though  indeed  we  find  officers 
of  these  names  in  every  age,  yet  we  shall  not  find  that  the  Is- 
raelites kept  them  up  in  the  manner,  and  to  the  purpose,  for 
which  Moses  appointed  them;  but  rather  that  they  varied 
both  their  number,  and  their  office,  as  the  circumstances  of  the 
state  required,  or  the  persons  who  had  the  appointing  these  offi- 
cers thought  fit  to  employ  them.  Here  therefore  is  the  failure 
of  our  noble  author's  reflection ;  who  designed  to  prove,  that 
some  part  of  the  Jewish  polity  was  a  contrivance  of  Jethro, 
and  consequently  a  mere  human  institution;  but  his  instance 
is  a  point,  which  was  indeed  a  human  institution,  but  not  an 
essential  and  established  part  of  the  Jewish  polity.  There 
are  indeed  some  learned  writers,  who  have  thought  these  offi- 
cers of  divine  appointment ;''  but  whoever  will  carefully  ex- 
amine, will  find  no  good  foundation  for  their  opinion:  and 
may  thereby  cffiictually  silence  a  cavil,  which  our  modern 
deists,  from  the  hint  I  have  considered,  think  to  raise  against 
the  Jewish  polity.  Jethro  made  but  a  short  stay  with  Moses: 
for  before  they  departed  from  Repliidim,  he  ivent  his  ivuy 
into  his  own  Innd.^ 

The  Israelites,  on  the  fifteenth  day  of  the  third  month  after 
their  leaving  Egypt,  marched  from  Rephidim  into  the  wildei- 
ness  of  Sinai,  and  pitched  their  camp  at  the  foot  of  mount  Sinai :" 

3  Dent.  xvl.  18.  '  Vid.  Sigon.  de  Rep.  Heb.  lib.  vii,  c.  7. 

i  Exod.  xviii.  17. 

6  Exod.  xix,  1,  2.  The  words  of  Moses  seem  to  me  to  intimate,  that  the 
Israelites  came  to  Sinai  on  the  15th  dayof'this  monlli.  They  came  here, Moses 
says,  in  tlie  third  month  of  their  exit  from  Kirj'pt  (nrn  ova)  bejom  hazzeh,  on 
the  very  day,  i.  e.  of  their  exit,  or  on  the  15th  ;  for  on  that  day  of  the  first 
month  tliey  came  out  of  E^.'^'P'^-  I'^e  most  learned  Archbisliop  Usher  indeed 
took  tlie  w'ords  otherwise.'  lie  supposes  that  bejom  hazzeh  refers  to  the  month, 
and  intimates  that  the  Israelites  came  to  Sinai  on  the  day  of  tlie  niontli  the 
same  in  number  witli  the  month,  or  on  the  tliird  day  of  the  third  month  :  see  his 
Annals.  Other  writers  imagine  that  the  words  bi-Jom  hazzeh  sigrnify  no  more, 
than  tliat  they  came  to  Sinai  on  tlie  very  day  they 'left  Rephidim,  and  that  the 
intimation  here  intended  is,  tliat  from  Rephidim  to  Sinai  was  the  journey  of 
but  one  day.  Vid.  Pool's  Synop.  in  loc.  There  are  some,  who  would  render 
llic  verse  to  tliis  purpose,  On  the  third  uc-.o  moon  after  the  e.nt,  on  the  very  day, 
i.  e.  of  the  moon,  &.c.  so  as  to  fix  the  coming  to  Sinai  to  be  on  the  first  day  of 
this  third  month.  But  to  tliis  it  is  obvious  to  answer ;  the  word  S'nn  must  be 
licre  translated  month,  and  not  new  moon;  for,  1.  The  Israelites  coming  out 


BOOK  X.  HISTORY  CONNECTED.  49 

where  they  stayed  almost  a  year.^  In  the  first  three  days 
was  transacted  what  is  recorded  in  the  xix,  xx,  xxi,  xxii, 
xxiii  chapters  of  Exodus.*^  And  Moses  probably  spent  some 
days  in  writing  down  the  laws  and  judgments  which  God  had 
given  them  f  after  wliich  he  built  an  altar,  offered  sacrifices, 
and  read  what  he  had  written  in  the  book,^  and  the  people 
entered  into  the  most  solemn  engagement  to  perform  what 
was  written  in  it.^  After  this,  Moses  and  Aaron,  Nadab 
and  Abihu,  and  seventy  of  the  elders  of  Israel  went  up  some 
part  of  the  mountain,^  a7id  they  saw  the  God  of  Israel,"^  and 
worshipped  hi7n.^  And  Moses,  upon  God's  commanding  it, 
having  given  Aaron  and  Hur  the  charge  of  the  people,  went 
with  Joshua  up  to  the  top  of  the  mount,  and  was  on  the  mount, 
forty  days  and  forty  nights, "^  during  which  time  he  received 
the  directions  and  commands  contained  in  Exodus  xxv,  and 
in  the  following  chapters  to  the  end  of  the  xxxist. 

It  may  be  here  asked,  how  and  in  what  sense  did  Moses, 
Aaron,  Nadab  and  Abihu,  and  the  elders,  see  the  God  of 
Israel  ?  No  man  hath  seen  God  at  any  time.''  It  seems  hard 
to  imagine,  how  the  infinite  God  can  be  clothed  in  shape,  and 
bounded  within  the  limits  of  a  form  or  figure,  so  as  to  become 
the  object  of  sight  to  a  mortal  eye.  The  wise  heathens  ap- 
prehended insuperable  difficulties  in  any  such  supposition;'^ 
and  it  must  be  confessed,  that  some  of  the  versions  of  tho 
Bible  do  not  render  the  passage  literally.  The  LXX  translate 
it,  They  saio  the  place  where  there  stood  the  God  of  Israel  ;'^ 
and  Onkelos,  Tliey  saw  the  glory  of  the  Gon  of  Israel}  And 
the  commentators,  from  what  Moses  in  another  place  remarks 
to  the  Israelites,  that  they  had  seen  no  manner  of  similitude, 
generally  conclude,  that  he  did  not  intend  here  to  intimate, 
that  he  or  the  nobles  of  Israel  did  really  and  visibly  see  God. 
But  I  would  beg  leave  to  offer  to  the  reader  some  thoughts 
which  occur  to  me,  whenever  I  read  this  passage. 

1.  I  cannot  but  observe,  that  Moses  does  not  say,  that  he 
and  the  nobles  of  Israel  saw  the  invisible  God  ;  the  expression 

of  Eg^'pt  in  the  middle  of  tlie  first  month,  the  first  day  of  the  third  month 
could  be  only  the  second,  and  not  the  third  new  moon  after  their  exit.  2.  The 
sacred  writers  never  use  such  an  expression,  as  is  here  before  us  ;  for  on  the 
first  day  of  the  month  (beachad  lachdesh)  is  on  the  first  day  of  the  month.  See 
Gen.  viii,  5, 13;  Exodus  xl,  2  ;  Levit.  xxiii,  '24  ;  Numbers  i,  1,  xxix,  l,xxxiii, 
31;  Deut.  i,  3;  Ezra  iii,  6;  Nehem.  viii,  2;  Ezek.  xxvi,  1,  xxxi,  1,  xlv,  18, 
&c. ;  and  thus  Moses  would  most  probably  have  here  written,  if  the  first  day 
of  the  month  had  been  here  intended  by  him. 

■^  They  came  to  Sinai  on  the  fifteenth  of  the  third  month,  in  the  first  year  of 
the  exit,' and  they  left  Sinai  on  the  twentieth  day  of  the  second  month  of  the 
second  year;  so  that  they  stayed  here  eleven  months  and  five  days. 

s  Exodus  xix,  11.  9  Chap,  xxiv,  4.  '  Ver.  7. 

2  Ver.  7,  8.  3  Ver  9.  *  Ver.  10. 

5  Ver.  11.  6  Ver.  12—18.  ^  1  John  iv,  12. 

8  CU  <hx.xi  o-a)^si<TOC  «v8/jai3'/va  KM  eepa.;  c^l  rt;  fisoi  k'Xi  S'xifAOVl  KWceviu.  KXt  X^F'^t  HV'^ 
hS'h  Kut  TKTo  ttuo-Quvsu.     Flut.  iH  NuiTia,  p.  62. 

9  IJOV  TOV  T03-0V  H  tt^UKU  0  ©{OC  TH  iTfSill}..        MS.   A. 

1  Targum  Onkelos. 
Vol.   III.  G 


50  SACRED  AND  PROrANE         BOOK  X. 

is,  that  they  saw  the  God  of  Israel?  No  man  indeed  hatii 
ever  seen  the  invisible  God,^  nor  can  see  him;*  but  the  God 
of  Israel,  the  divine  person,  who  is  many  times  styled  in  the 
Old  Testament //^e  God  of  Abraham,  the  God  of  Isaac,  and 
the  God  of  Jacob,^  frequently  appeared  to  them,  and  was  in 
after-ages  made  flesh,^  and  for  about  three  and  thirty  years 
dwelt  on  Earth  amongst  men.  2.  That  this  person  appeared 
to  the  patriarchs  of  old,  in  a  real  body,  was  evident  to  them 
by  the  same  infallible  proofs  as  those,  by  which  he  showed 
himself  alive  to  his  disciples  after  his  passion  J  After  he  was 
risen  from  the  dead,  he  was  seen  by  the  disciples  speaking  to 
them;^  and  so  he  was  in  divers  places,  and  at  sundry  times  to 
Abraham,^  to  Isaac,^  and  to  Jacob.^  The  disciples  not  only  be- 
held him,  but  felt,  and  handled  him,  and  were  as  sure  that  he 
was  really  with  them,  as  they  were  that  a  spirit  hath  not 
flesh  and  hones,  as  they  saw  him  have?  In  like  manner 
Jacob  experienced  as  sensible  a  presence,  when  he  wrestled 
with  him.^  JVhilst  the  disciples  believed  not  but  wondered, 
he  said  unto  them,  have  ye  here  any  rneat?  and.  they  gave 
him  a  piece  of  a  broiled  fish,  and  of  a  honeycomb,  and  he 
took  it,  and  did  eat  before  them?  Agreeably  hereto,  when 
THE  LoRD,^  with  two  angels  accompanying  him,  appeared 
unto  Abraham  in  the  plains  of  Mamre,  after  Abraham  had 
the  calf  dressed,  and  set  it  before  them,  whilst  he  stood  by 
them  under  the  tree,  they  did  eat?  Now  from  all  these  pas- 
sages, I  think,  I  see  it  to  have  been  real  and  indisputable  fact, 
that  the  person,  who  is  here  styled  the  God  of  Israel,  did  fre- 
quently, for  a  short  or  a  longer  space  of  time,  according  to  his 
own  good  will  and  pleasure,  assume  and  unite  himself  to  a  real 
body,  and  thereby  appear  visible  to  such  persons  as  he  thought 
tit  to  manifest  himself  to  in  this  manner;  and  consequently 
that  he  might  be  thus  seen  by  Moses  and  the  elders  on  the 
mount.  His  appearance  on  the  mount  was  indeed  glorious.' 
attended  with  a  splendour  in  which  he  had  not  before  been 
seen  by  man ;  and  perhaps  something  like  it  afterwards  was 
his  transfiguration  before  the  three  disciples.^  But  the  text  of 
Moses  does  in  nowise  suggest,  that  he  and  the  elders  saw 
the  God  of  Israel  in  all  his  glory.  Moses  indeed  did  after- 
wards desire  thus  to  see  him;*  but  was  answered,  that  he  was 
not  capable  of  it;^  and  accordingly  at  that  time,  while  the 


2  Exodus  xxiv,  10.  3  Coloss.  i,15.                     <  1  Tim.vi,  16. 

5  Gen.  xxvi.  24,  xxviii,  13 ;  Exodus  iii,  6 ;  see  vol.  ii.  b.  ix ;  see  Acts  vii,  ?, 
and  Gen.  xvii,  1. 

6  See  vol.  i,  b.  V  ;  John  i,  14.  ''  Acts  i,  3. 

8  Ibid.  9  Gen.  xii,  7,  xvii,  1,  xviii,  1 
J  Ibid,  xxvi,  24.  -  Ibid,  xxxii,  30,  xxxv.  9. 

3  Luke  xxiv,  39.  «  Gen.  xxxii. 

5  Luke  xxiv,  41,  42,  43.  ^  Gen.  xviii,  1. 

7  Ver.  8.  8  Exodus  xxiv,  10. 

9  Mail,  xvii;  Mark  ix.  •  Exodus  xxxiii,  18. 
^  Ver.  20. 


BOOK  X.  HISTORY  CONNECTED.  51 

glory  of  the  Lord  passed  by  him,  Moses  was  put  in  a  clift  of 
the  rock,  and  the  Lord  covered  him  with  his  hand,  while  he 
passed  by.^  But  here,  upon  the  nobles  of  Israel  he  laid  not 
his  hand^  They  had  an  unintercepted  view  of  his  appear- 
ance; and  consequently  he  appeared  to  them,  with  a  lesser 
degree  of  glory,  such  as  men  might  see  and  live. 

As  to  what  may  be  pretended  of  the  wise  and  learned 
heathens ;  that  they  by  the  light  of  nature  would  have  judged 
such  an  appearance,  as  is  here  spoken,  of,  absurd  and  impossi- 
ble; I  would  observe,  that  it  is  indeed  true,  that  their  earliest 
philosophy  led  them  to  think,  that  the  lights  of  Heaven  were 
the  gods  that  governed  the  loorld ;^  and  to  ascribe  no  human 
shape  to  these  divinities,  nor  to  set  up  idols  of  human  form  in 
their  ancient  image  worship,  but  rather  to  consecrate  sacred 
animals,  and  to  dedicate  their  images ;  the  images  of  birds 
and  four-footed  beasts,  and  creeping  things.^  These  they 
imagined  were  proper  objects  or  directors  of  their  worship  ; 
and  have  left  us  what  they  thought  a  philosophical  reason  for 
the  use  they  made  of  them.^  But  notwithstanding  all  this,  in 
time,  a  newer  theology  succeeded  among  them,  and  in  all  na- 
tions, except  the  more  eastern,  which  had  but  little  knowledge 
of,  or  concern  in  what  happened  in  Canaan  and  the  countries 
adjacent  to  it,  or  which  were  instructed  from  it,  gods  of  hu- 
man form  were  introduced  into  every  temple,  and  human 
images  were  erected  to  them.  And  yet,  in  after-times,  when 
their  philosophers  came  to  speculate  upon  this  subject,  both 
this  worship  and  theology  was  thought  by  them  to  have  been 
the  invention  of  fabulists  and  poets,  and  not  to  have  been 
derived  from  reason  and  truth.^  They  thought  it  mythic  or 
popular,  but  in  nowise  agreeable  to  their  notions  of  the  nature 
of  divine  beings,^  but  rather  contrary  to  them.  It  is  remarkable, 
that  this  their  later  theology  was  never  thought  of  in  any  na- 
tion, until  after  the  Lord  had  appeared  unto  Abraham,  unto 
Isaac,  unto  Jacob,  unto  Moses,  until  after  an  angel  had  ap- 
peared unto  Balaam,^  unto  Joshua,^  and  to  divers  other  per- 
sons; not  until  after  the  fame  of  these  appearances  had  spread 
into,  and  obtained  credit  in  divers  countries.  From  all  which 
I  am  apt  to  conclude,  that  no  science  or  speculation,  but  a  be- 
lief of  facts  well  attested,  led  the  heathens  into  this  their  newer 


»  Ver.  22.  4  chap,  xxiv,  11. 

5  Wisdom  xiii,  2 ;  see  vol.  i,  b.  v  ;  vol.  ii,  b.  viii,  ^ 

«  Vol.  ii,  b.  viii.  -^ 

^•ja-uyiyovoiav.     Pint,  de  Iside  et  Osiride,  p,  382. 

8  Vide  Flat,  de  Rep.  lib.  ii. 

9  Tria  sunt  genera  tlieologise,  eorumque  iinum  mytliicon  appellatur,  alteiMim 
physicon,  tertium  civile.  Mythicon  appellatur,  quo  maxime  utuntur  poets, 
physicon,  quo  philosophi ;  primum  quod  dixi,  in  eo  sunt  multa contra  dignitit- 
tem  et  naturam  immortalium  ficta,  &.c.     Varro  in  Fragment,  p.  31. 

1  Numbers  xxii.  2  Joshua  v,  13. 


52  SACRED  AND  PROFANE         BOOK  X. 

theology.^  What  was  said  of  the  appearances  of  angels  unto 
men  among  the  Hebrews,  and  to  some  other  persons  of  other 
nations,  was  known  to  have  been  fact,  beyond  a  possibility 
of  contradiction.  Hence  it  came  to  pass,  that  though  philoso- 
phy suggested  no  such  innovation,  j^et  the  directors  of  the 
Sacra  of  heathen  kingdoms  could  not  well  avoid  an  imita- 
tion, of  what,  as  fact,  could  not  be  denied  to  have  happened 
in  the  world  ;  and  this  by  degrees  led  them  to  their  new  gods. 
Thus,  if  we  consult  the  ancient  heathens,  instead  of  finding 
from  their  philosophy  objections  sufficient  to  weaken  the  cre- 
dibility of  what  the  Scriptures  record,  concerning  the  appear- 
ances of  divine  and  superior  beings,  we  may,  from  the  altera- 
tion which  they  made  in  their  sacred  institutions,  be  induced 
to  think,  that  these  Scripture  facts  had  been  so  well  attested  to 
the  world,  that  even  nations,  not  immediately  concerned  in 
them,  could  not  but  admit  the  truth  of  them,  and  think  them 
of  weight  enough  to  cause  them  to  vary  froin  what  they  had 
before  esteemed  the  principles  both  of  their  science  and  reli- 
gion. But, 

Moses  is  said  to  have  remarked  to  the  Israelites,  Ihat  they 
had  see?i  no  manner  of  similitude.  I  answer,  nothing  can,  I 
think,  be  concluded  from  the  passage  alluded  to,-*  to  contra- 
dict what  Moses  relates.  Exodus  xxiv,  that  he  and  the  elders 
saiu  the  God  of  Israel.  The  passage  cited  from  Deuteronomy 
expressly  refers  to  the  day  in  which  God  delivered,  in  an  audi- 
ble voice,  the  ten  commandments  from  the  mount  to  the  peo- 
ple. And  Moses's  design  in  it  was,  to  caution  them,  by  a  due 
regard  to  that  day's  transactions,  to  be  exceeding  careful  not 
to  fall  into  idolatry.  He  exhorts  them,  ver,  9,  10,  never  to 
forget  the  things  which  their  eyes  had  seen  on  the  day  that 
they  stood  before  the  Lord  in  Horeb.  He  reminds  them, 
ver.  12,  that  in  that  day  the  Lord  spake  unto  them  out  of 
the  midst  of  the  fire,  that  they  heard  the  voice  of  the  word-s, 
but  saiv  no  similitude,  only  they  heard  a  voice.  He  then 
again  charges  them  to  take  good  heed  to  themselves,  lest  they 
should  inake  the  similitude  of  any  figure;  by  observing 
again  to  them,  ver.  15,  that  they  satv  no  sitnilitude,  on  the 
day  that  the  Lord  spake  unto  them,  in  Horeb,  out  of  the 
onidst  of  the  fire.  On  this  day  it  was,  that  God  instructed 
them  how  he  would  be  worshipped,  and  commanded  them  to 
make  to  themselves  no  manner  of  image  ;^  therefore  to  this 
particular  day's  transaction  Moses  might  well  appeal,  in  order 
to  chars-e  them  in  the  strictest  manner  to  be  careful  to  observe 


3  Tlierc  are  many  passages  in  tlic  lioathen  writers,  which  intimate  that  tliey 
thoiiglit  it  11  fact,  which  could  in  nowise  he  denied,  that  the  gods  had  appeared 
«n\to  men.  Tims,  S?epc  visx  formx  dcorum  qiicmvis  non  helietem  aut  nnpium 
deos  prxsentes  esse  confiteri  coegcrunt.  Tullius  dc  Nat.  Dcor.  lih.  ii,  cap.  2. 
Again,  Prxterca  ipsorum  deonim  prxsentix,  quales  supra  commemoravi,  de- 
clarant, ftb  his  et  civltatibus,  et  singulis  hominibus  consuli.     Id.  ibid.  c.  66. 

■>  Dcut.  iv.  15.  5  E.Kodus  >:x,  4,  5. 


BOOK  X.  HISTORY  CONNECTED.  53 

this  commandment.  Accordingly,  what  he  here  ofiers  is  by 
his  own  express  words  limited  and  confined  to  the  transac- 
tions of  the  day  here  referred  to  ;  and  I  do  not  see,  how  any 
thing  can  be  concluded  from  what  is  here  said,  against  what 
he  may  have  suggested  as  happening  on  any  other  day  what- 
soever. 

About  these  times  Lelex,  who  was  the  first  king  of  Laconia, 
flourished  in  that  country;  and  seems  to  have  been  somewhat 
elder  than  Moses.  He  came  originally  from  Egypt,^  made 
divers  settlements  in  many  places,  in  Caria,""  in  Ionia,''  at  Ida, 
near  Troy,^  and  afterwards  in  Greece,  in  Acarnania,^  in  JEto- 
lia,^  in  Boeotia,^  and  last  of  all  in  Laconia.  When  Lelex  be- 
gan his  travels,  he  took  the  same  rout  that  Cecrops  and  the 
jfather  of  Cadmus  had  before  taken.  He  went  up  into  Phoeni- 
cia, thence  into  the  lesser  Asia,  and  from  thence  he  crossed 
over  into  Greece,  and  made  settlements  in  many  places,  until 
at  length  he  came  into  Laconia.  In  all  parts  where  he  made 
any  stay,  he  endeavoured  to  form  and  civilize  the  uncultivated 
people;  and  probably,  when  he  removed,  he  left  some  of  his 
followers  to  complete  his  designs  ;  and  upon  every  procession 
to  a  new  country  he  took  with  him  such  new  associates  as 
had  a  mind  to  accompany  him  from  the  places  where  he  had 
last  resided.  By  these  means  the  company  he  commanded 
would  in  a  few  years  be  a  mixed  multitude  gathered  out  of 
different  nations  ;  and  his  followers  having  been  of  this  sort, 
seemed  to  Strabo  to  be  the  reason  why  the  Greeks  called  him 
Lelex,  and  them  Leleges.^  It  was  found  in  writing  in  the 
times  of  the  Maccabees,  that  the  Lacedaemonians  and  the  Jews 
were  brethren;  and  that  the  Lacedaemonians  were  descended 
of  the  stock  of  Ahruham.'^  I  imagine,  that  this  Lelex  was 
an  Israelite,  and  that  as  divers  eminent  persons  of  the  Egyp- 
tians, upon  the  conquest  which  the  pastors  made  of  their  coun- 
try, fled  with  as  many  as  would  follow  them  into  foreign 
lands  ;*  some  of  the  Hebrews,  when  they  were  pressed  with 
slavery,  might  do  the  same  thing,  and  this  Lelex  might 
be  one  of  them  ;  and  when  he  had  obtained  a  settlement  in 
Laconia,  both  what  VvC  find  in  Pausanias  of  his  coming  out  of 
Egypt,*"  and  this  hint  of  his  relation  to  the  Hebrews  might  be 
recorded  of  him.  Some  of  the  Greek  writers  mistake  the  time 
of  his  coming  into  Greece;  who  report  that  it  was  about  thir- 
teen generations  after  Phoroneus,  king  of  Argos.'  But  we 
must  not  suppose  it  so  late;  for  from  Menelaus  who  warred 


^  A«7-sc-(v  0/  Mf>ags/c  tA>.i-jSi  a^MOjutvov  «|  'hiyvTrla  SA(TiXiva-a.i.  Pausan.  in  Alticis, 
.39. 

e  Vid.  Strab.  Geog.  lib.  vii,  p.  321 ;  lib.  xiii,  p.  611 ;  Horn.  11.  p.  ver.  86,  87. 

"  Strab.  lib.  xiv,  p.  64O.  «  Id.  lib.  vii,  p.  321. 

'J  Id.  ibid.  1  Id.  ibid. 

'■!  Id.  ibid,  et  in  lib.  ix,  p.  401.  ^  Vid.  Strab.  lib.  vii,  p.  322. 

*  1  Mace,  xii,  21.  '"  See  vol.  ii,  b.  viii. 

f  Pausan,  in  Attic,  c,  39.  ''  Id.  ibid. 


54  SACRED  AND  PROFANE         bOOK  X. 

at  Troy  up  to  Lelex,  we  find  ten  successive  kings  of  this 
country  exclusive  of  Menelaus  ;**  and  in  Castor's  list  we  have 
but  fourteen  successions  from  Phoroneus  down  to  Agamem- 
non the  leader  of  the  Greeks,  contemporary  with  Menelaus;' 
so  that  Lelex  cannot  have  been  at  most  above  three  or  four 
reigns  later  than  Phoroneus.  We  find  a  hint  in  Strabo,  which 
may  well  fix  for  us  the  time  of  Lelex's  entering  Laconia.  He 
records,  that  the  Leleges  were  in  Boeotia,  when  Cadmus  came 
thither;  and  that  Cadmus  expelled  them  that  country.^  They 
were  hereupon  compelled  to  a  farther  travel,  and  therefore  at 
Ibis  time,  they  and  their  leader  marched  to  Laconia,  and  be- 
s:an  the  kingdom  of  Lacedaemonia.  Cadmus  came  into  Boeo- 
tia A.  M.  2486.'^  And  therefore  to  this  year  I  should  fix  Le- 
lex's going  into  Laconia;  who  according  to  this  computation 
came  thither  in  the  reign  of  Triopas,  or  Crotopus,  the  fourth 
or  fifth  king  of-^  Argos  from  Phoroneus.  Agreeably  to  this 
computation,  we  may  well  suppose  ten  kings  of  Lacedaemonia 
from  Lelex  to  Menelaus ;  but  if  we  place  Lelex  lower  there 
can  be  no  room  for  such  a  succession.  I  might  add,  that  it 
farther  appears,  that  Lelex  lived  about  these  times,  from  what 
Pausanias  records  of  Polycaon  his  younger  son,  that  he  mar- 
ried Mcssene  the  daughter  of  Triopas;**  so  that  Lelex  and 
Triopas  were  nearl)^  contemporaries.  I  suppose  Lelex  some- 
what elder  than  Moses ;  his  coming  into  Laconia  after  so 
many  travels,  must  have  been  towards  the  end  of  his  own 
life;  but  the  year  2486  in  which  he  entered  that  country,  falls 
about  the  middle  of  Moses's  days ;  in  Moses's  fifty-third 
year,  twenty-seven  years  before  he  led  the  Israelites  out  of 
Egypt.  We  are  nowhere  told  hoAv  long  Lelex  governed  his 
new  settlement;  his  eldest  son  Myles  succeeded  him,*  and  at 
Myles's  death,  Eurotas  son  of  Myles  became  king.''  Eurotas 
at  his  death  left  no  male  heirs,^  and  Polycaon  the  younger 
son  of  Lelex  was  settled  in  another  country.^  Hence  it  hap- 
pened at  the  demise  of  Eurotas,  that  the  crown  of  Laconia 
went  into  another  family ;  and  Lacedaemon,  son  of  Jupiter 
and  Taygete  was  promoted  to  it.^  Pausanias  has  recorded 
the  names  of  the  Lacedaemonian  kings  ;^  and  from  Lelex  to 
Menelaus  who  warred  at  Troy,  they  arc  as  follows;  Lelex, 
Myles,  Eurotas,  Lacedacmon,  Am3'clas,  Argalus,  Cynortas, 
Ocbalus,  Hippocoon,  Tyndarcus,  and  Menelaus.  Castor  and 
Pollux  were  the  sons  of  Tyndareus,-  and  engaged  in  the  Ar- 


s  P.iusan.  in  Laconic.  ^  Eiiscb   in  Chronico. 

1  Str:ib.  Geog.  lib.  xi,  p.  401.  -'  See  vol.  ii,  b.  viii. 

■^   Triopas  was  nf)tefl  by  the  ancient  writers  to  live  about  the  times  ot 
Cecrops.     See  vol.  ii,  b.  viii. 

•t  Pausan.  in  L.iconic.  c.  1 ;  et  in  Messcnic.  c.  1. 

■>  1(1.  in  I.,aconic.  ubi  sup.  c  Id.  ibid. 

7  Id   ibid.  s  Id.  in  .Messenic.  ubi  sup. 

"  Id.  in  L.aconic.  '  Id,  ibid. 

-  Anollod.  IJlbliolh.  lib.  iii,  c.  9. 


BOOfc  X.  HISTORY  CONNECTED.  55 

gonautic  expedition  f  but  they  were  never  kings  of  Laceda- 
monia,  but  died  before  their  father;-*  and  upon  their  death, 
Tyndareus,  sent  for  Menelaus  to  succeed  him  in  his  kins:- 
dom.* 

The  famous  Jupiter  of  the  Greeks  was  also  contemporary 
with  Moses.  He  was  son  of  Saturn,  a  king  of  Crete.''  The 
remains  we  now  have  of  the  ancient  writers  seem  to  give  but 
a  confused  account  of  the  early  history  of  the  Cretans;  though 
it  is  remarkable,  that  the  Cretans  were  formerly  so  famous  for 
their  history,  as  to  have  the  wisest  of  men  think  it  worth 
while  to  travel  to  them  to  peruse  their  records.^  But  of  what 
now  remains  about  them,  almost  all  is  fable;  though  I  cannot 
but  think,  a  careful  inquirer  may  still  collect  particulars,  and 
give  them  more  light  than  they  are  generally  thought  capable 
of  receiving.  Crcs  was  king  of  Crete  about  the  fifty-sixth 
year  of  Abraham,^  Talus  was  son  of  Cres,  Vulcan  of  Talus, 
and  Rhadamanthus  of  Vulcan.^  About  the  time  of  this  Rhada- 
manthus^  we  may  place  the  Dactyli  Idaei,^  who  were  five  bro- 
thers, as  many  in  number  as  the  fingers  of  a  man's  hand,  and 
for  that  reason  called  Dactyli.^  One  of  these  Dactyli  was  pro- 
bably named  Jupiter ;  for  there  was  a  more  ancient  Jupiter 
than  the  son  of  Saturn,^  who  was  father  of  the  Curetes,*  and 
brother  of  Ouranus;^  so  that  Ouranus  might  be  another  of  the 
Dactyli.  Saturn  was  son  of  Ouranus,^  and  Jupiter  was  son  of 
Saturn.*  From  Abraham  to  Moses  are  seven  descents;  Abra- 
ham, Isaac,  Jacob,  Levi,  Cohath,  Amram,  Moses ;  and  there 
are  about  as  many  from  Cres  to  Jupiter,  namely,  Cres,  Talus. 
Vulcan,  Rhadamanthus,  Ouranus,  Saturn,  Jupiter.  If  Oura- 
nus and  the  rest  of  the  Dactyli  were  of  the  same  descent  with 
Rhadamanthus,  we  have  but  six  ;  but,  if  they  were  in  the  de- 
scent next  after  him,  we  have  exactly  seven,  as  in  the  family 
of  Abraham.  Diodorus  Siculus  mentions  no  kings  of  Crete 
between  Cres  and  the  Dactyli ;  but  it  is  observable,  that  he 
does  not  say  that  the  Dactyli  flourished  in  or  next  after  the 
times  of  Cres.  Diodorus  reckoned  up  the  worthies  who  lived 
between  Cres  and  Saturn,  whom  the  ages  which  succeeded 


3  Apollon.  Argon,  et.  Val.  Flacc. 

4  Apollod.  lib.  iii,  c.  10.  5  id.  ibid. 

6  Diodor.  Sic.  lib.  v,  c.  68;  Apollod.  Biblioth.  lib.  i. 

Diogen.  Laert.  in  vit.  Thalet, 

^  Euseb.  in  Chron.  9  Cinsthon.  in  Paus  Arcad.  c.  S3. 

1  We  are  not  to  suppose  that  the  Rhadamanthus  here  spoken  of  was  the 
same  person  with  one  of  that  name,  who  was  brothei*  of  Minos;  nor  the  Vul- 
can here  mentioned  to  be  the  same  with  Vulcan  son  of  Jupiter.  Persons  of 
later  ages  frequently  had  the  names  which  their  ancestor  had  borne  ages  before 
them.  ^  Diodor.  Sic.  1.  v,  c,  64. 

3  Diodor.  Sic,  lib.  v,  c.  64;  Strabo  Geog.  lib.  x,  p.  487. 

4  Diodor.  lib.  iii,  c.  61. 

s  Id.  ibid.  6  Id.  ibid. 

7  Id.  lib,  V,  c.  66 ;  Apollod.  Biblioth.  lib.  i. 

*  Diodorus,  lib,  v,  c.  69,  70,  71 ;  Apollod,  ubi  sup 


50  SACRED  AND  PROFANE         BOOK  X. 

had  mentioned  with  honour;  and  it  is  easy  to  imagine,  that 
there  might  be  two  or  three  descents  between  the  times  of 
Cres  and  the  Dactyli,  in  which  nothing  memorable  was  done, 
in  the  way  of  either  great  actions  or  useful  inventions,  to  bear 
their  fame  down  to  posterity,  and  so  the  names  of  those  who 
lived  in  these  generations  might  either  not  come  to  Diodorus, 
or  he  not  think  it  worth  while  to  mention  them.  If  Cres 
himself  had  not  excelled  those  who  lived  before  him,  in  teach- 
ing his  countrymen  many  things  conducive  to  their  public 
welfare,^  Diodorus  had  probably  taken  no  notice  of  him ;  and 
had  his  successors  been  as  eminent  as  he  was,  their  names, per- 
haps would  have  been  recorded  by  him.  But  after  the  death 
of  Cres/  no  advance  being  made  either  in  arts  or  government, 
until  the  Dactyli,  the  names  between  Cres  and  their  times 
were  omitted  by  Diodorus. 

Ouranus  lived  in  the  eastern  parts  of  Crete;  for  his  son  Sa- 
turn afterwards  removed  westward.^  Ouranus  married  Titse,^ 
who,  according  to  the  custom  of  these  times,  which  was,  to 
give  the  names  of  the  elements  and  lights  of  heaven  (they  be- 
ing deities  now  worshipped)  to  eminent  persons,  took  the 
names  of  Terra  or  Tellus,  as  her  husband  was  called  Coelum 
or  Ouranus.  The  children  born  of  these  two  parents  were 
first  the  Centimani;  namely,  Briareus,  Gyes,  and  Caeus.''  The 
fabulous  writers  say,  that  each  of  these  men  had  a  hundred 
hands  and  fifty  heads.*  They  were  of  larger  size,  of  greater 
strength,*'  and  perhaps  of  more  cunning  and  contrivance  than 
common  men;  and  fable  has  given  them  the  hands  and  heads 
of  multitudes,  for  being  superior  to  single  men  in  their  wis- 
dom and  valour.  Ouranus  sent  them  to  inhabit  the  land  of 
Tartarus;  for  here  we  find  them  in  power  and  command  in 
the  days  of  Jupiter.^  What  or  where  the  country  was,  which 
was  thus  named,  may  be  difficult  to  determine.  Pluto  was 
afterwards  king  of  it,^  and  I  imagine  it  was  no  part  of  Crete  ; 
for  when  Pluto  took  away  Proserpine  from  her  mother  Ceres, 
Ceres  sought  her,  xa7a  ftauav  T-rfV  yr^i;  i.  6.  all  over  Crete,  but 
could  not  find  her  f  afterwards  she  heard  that  she  was  with 
Pluto;  so  that  Pluto's  dominions  were  not  in  Crete,  but  in 
some  foreign  country.  We  are  told  bj^  Aj)ollodoru$,  that  the 
Cyclops  were  sent  into  this  land  of  Tartarus;^  and  Homer 

9  tov  /uiv  ScirlKix  KptiTdL  xa^y^svcv  Trxn^ct  nut  /uiyiT^  kxtsl  t«v  vhtcv  lufiiv  -r* 
Jyva/weva  Tcv  >totvov  zu>\i  avflfavrav  dcv  ^i^wjitra/.     Diodor.  Sic.  lib.  v,  c.  64. 

'  Perhaps  Cres  having  none  to  second  him,  the  useful  designs  he  attempled 
might  drop  at  his  death ;  and  thougli  lie  had  the  descendants  we  have  men- 
tioned, yet  none  of  them  might  be  kings,  nor  any  government  set  up  in  Crete 
in  tlieir  names. 

-  Jiiodor.  c.  66.  '  Id.  ibid. 

4  ApoUod  BibliolhMib.  i,  c.  1.  ^  ij_  ,bid. 

**  MejfSs;  T«  uvuTripCknTOi  kxi  SwAfxu  Hubug-nne^ctv,     Id.  ibid. 

'  Apollod.  B  blioth.  lib.  i,  c.  2.  «  Id.  ibid. 

riMU      ApoUodor.  Biblioth.  lib,  i,  c.  5, 
1  Id.  ibid.c,  1. 


BOOK  X.  HISTORY  CONNECTED.  57 

appears  to  think  that  they  lived  in  the  island  of  Sicily.^ 
Strabo  supposed  that  in  this  point  he  had  given  us  not  fiction, 
but  true  history  f  and  we  find  Thucydides,  though  he  had  no- 
thing to  offer  about  the  rise  or  exit  of  this  set  of  men,  whence 
they  came  hither,  or  whither  they  removed,  yet  not  doubting 
but  that  they  were  of  the  most  ancient  inhabitants  of  this 
island."*  Agreeably  hereto,  Tartarus  the  father  of  Typhon 
appears  from  Apollodorus  to  have  lived  in  Sicily  in  the  age  I 
am  treating  of:*  and  in  these  days  probably  this  island  was 
called  after  his  name.  This  land  of  Tartarus  was  said  to  be 
as. far  distant  from  the  Earth,  as  the  Earth  is  from  Heaven.^ 
This  might  be  the  ancient  Cretan  account  of  it,  and  by  the 
Earth  they  might  mean  their  own  island,  and  intended  only 
to  assert  that  Tartarus  was  at  an  immeasurable  distance  from 
their  shore;  and  unquestionably  from  Crete  to  Sicily  was  a 
considerable  voyage  in  those  ages.  As  Pluto,  from  his  having 
been  the  person  who  invented  the  rites  and  ceremonies^  used 
at  funerals,  came  in  after-ages  to  be  called  the  god  of  the 
dead;  so  the  country  where  he  had  been  king  was  reputed 
to  be  their  region,  and  all  the  gloomy  fictions  imagined  to  be- 
long to  the  state  of  the  departed  were  related  to  have  their 
place  in  this  land  of  Tartarus.  But  it  is  obvious  that  these 
fables  were  not  invented,  until  ages  after  the  times  of  the 
Centimani;  and  not  until  long  after  Sicily  ceased  to  be  called 
by  this  its  ancient  name.  2.  The  Cyclops  were  also  sons  of 
Ouranus  and  Tellus;^  whose  names  were  Harpes,  Steropes, 
and  Brontes.  They  were  said  to  have  but  one  eye  apiece, 
and  that  situate  in  the  middle  of  their  foreheads.®  These  men 
were  the  archers  of  their  times,  and  usually  shut  one  eye,  to 
take  their  aim  in  shooting;'  which  occasioned  the  fable  of 
their  having  only  one  eye.  Ouranus  sent  them  to  Tartarus 
unto  their  brethren.^  3.  Ouranus  and  Tellus  were  the  pa- 
rents of  the  Titans  also,  whose  names  were  Oceanus,  Casus, 

-  Odyss.  ix,  3  strabo  Geog.  lib.  i,  p.  20. 

4  Thucyd.  Hist.  lib.  vi,  5  id.  ibid.  lib.  i,  c,  6,  sect.3. 

6  ToTToc  it  isTc?  Tca-arov  ttwo  y>ii  i-xot>^  iiA^t^/AO.,  03-ov  oLTr'  upAvn  yn.  Apollod. 
lib.  i,  c.  I,  sec.  1. 

^  Tcv   <r    'AiTmv,    MyiTcu,  ra.   ■m^i    rstc   Tstpsc,    hm    t«c    aupifx^,  nut  rt/u^t;  tuv 

TsflvSaiTaV     X-xJ^ll^aj ilO     XM     tuv    TirihiUtHKOrm    O    fissc    JJTOC    TrUpUMlTtlcU  KVfUiVilV. 

Diodoras  Sic.  lib.  v,  p.  233. 

8  Apnllod.  lib.  i,  c.  1.  9  Id.  ibid. 

•  I  have  forgotten  from  whom  I  had  this  conjecture :  I  think  it  is  Eusta- 
thius's.  But  I  would  observe,  that  the  ingenious  annotator  upon  the  English 
Homer,  whose  real  worth,  as  well  as  learning,  makes  it  a  pleasure  to  me  to  say, 
I  have  a  friendship  for  him,  gives  a  better  account  of  this  fable  of  the  Cyclops ; 
ascribing  it  to  their  wearing  a  head  piece  or  martial  vizor,  that  had  but  one 
sight  through  it.  "  The  vulgar,"  says  he,  form  their  judgments  from  appear- 
anres ;  and  a  mariner,  who  passed  these  coasts  at  a  distance,  observing  the  re- 
semblance of  a  broad  eye  in  the  forehead  of  one  of  these  Cyclops,  miglit  relate 
it  accordingly,  and  impose  it  as  a  truth  upon  the  ignorant.  It  is  notorious, 
that  things  equally  monstrous  have  found  belief  in  all  ages."  See  Dr. 
Broome's  Xotes  upon  Homer's  Odyssey,  b.  ix,  ver.  119. 

2  ApoUodor.  ubi  sup. 

Vol.  Iir.  H 


58  SACRED  AND  PllOFANE  BOOK  X. 

Hyperion,  Crius,  Japetus,  and  Saturn,^  and  of  the  Titanides, 
who  were  Tethys,  Rhea,  Themis,  Mnemosyne,  Phoebe,  Dionc, 
and  Thia.-*  Tellus  the  wife  of  Ouranus  had  also  other  chil- 
dren, namely,  Phorcus,  Thaumas,  Nereus,  Eurybaia,  and 
Ceto,  by  a  person  named  Pontus,  who  perhaps  after  the  death 
of  Ouranus  was  her  second  husband;*  and  Ouranus  had  seve- 
ral children  by  a  concubine  named  Ops;  who  were  Porphy- 
ron, Halcyoneus,  Ephialtes,  Clytius,  Enceladus,  Polybotes, 
Gratian,  and  Thoon.  Tellus  made  a  voyage  into  Sicily,  and 
stayed  there  some  time,  until  she  had  a  son  named  Typhon, 
by  Tartarus,  a  person  of  the  highest  eminence  in  Sicily,  [p. 
these  ages.^  Ops  was  no  Cretan,  but  a  foreigner;  who  came 
into  Crete  out  of  a  more  northern  nation.^  She  is  often  taken 
to  be  the  same  person  as  Tellus,  but  it  is  evident  she  was  not 
so;  probably  she  was  the  Cybele  of  the  ancients. 

At  the  death  of  Ouranus,  his  son  Saturn  had  his  kingdom ; 
who  is  said  to  have  castrated  and  deposed  his  father.*  But 
Ave  have  no  reason  to  imagine  that  he  did  so,  or  that  what  is 
told  us  of  the  birth  of  the  furies  from  Ouranus^  was  real  fact. 
Varro  judiciously  thought  these  relations  to  be  parts  of  what 
he  calls  the  Mythic  Theology  ;^  which  afforded  many  narra- 
tions of  imaginary  actions  never  really  done,  but  founded 
upon  the  ancient  philosophy  and  religion,  historically  put  to- 
gether.^ Saturn  married  his  sister  Rhea,  and  had  by  her 
three  sons  and  three  daughters,  Jupiter,  Neptune,  Pluto, 
Vesta,  Ceres,  and  Juno.^  It  is  said  of  Saturn,  that  he  ate  up 
his  children  as  soon  as  they  were  born,*  that  Jupiter  only- 
escaped,  by  a  contrivance  of  his  mother  Rhea,  who  bundled 
up  a  stone  in  his  clothes,  and  sent  it  to  Saturn,  which  he,  not 
doubting  but  it  was  his  new-born  son,  took  and  ate  up  instead 
of  him.  Jupiter,  they  tell  us,  was  put  out  to  nurse  by  his 
mother  to  the  Curetes.  In  time,  they  bring  Saturn's  chil- 
dren upon  the  stage  again,  and  represent  Jupiter  as  compell- 
ing his  father,  by  some  drink,  to  discharge  his  stomach  of 

3  Id.  ibid.;  Diodor.  lib.  v,  c.  66. 

*  Apollodor.  Biblioth.  lib.  i,  c.  1.     Diodorus  mentions  only  five,  .nnd  c.ills 
tbem  Rliea,  Themis,  Mnemosyne,  Phcebe,  and  Tlietis,  lib.  v,  c.  66. 
5  Apollodor.  lib.  i,  c.  2,  sec.  5.  <>  Id.  c.  6. 

■^  ClTTiv,  [xitM  T&'V  £^  vTripScpaxv  TntpuyivofAtvcuv  Trap^ivm.     Id.  c.  4.  sec.  4. 
8  Apollodor.  c.  1.  ^  IJ.  ibid. 

1  Vid.  Varron.  Fvag.  p.  31. 

2  See  what  1  have  offered  upon  this  subject,  vol.  ii,  book  viii.  S.itumus — 
falcem  habet  ob  agriculturam.  Quod  Cerium  i)atrem  Saturnus  castr.isse  in 
fabulis  dicitur,  hoc  significat,  penes  Saturnum,  non  penes  Coclum,  semen  esse 
divinum  ;  hoc  propterea  quantum  intelligi  datur,  quia  nihil  in  Calo  de  scmini- 
bus  nascitur.     Varro  in  Frag  p.  42. 

3  Diodor.  Apollodor.  ubi  sup. 

»  This  fable  is  explained  by  Cicero  (de  Xat.  Deor.  lib.  ii,)  as  being  only  a 
metaphorical  account  of  Time's  destroying  its  own  produce.  His  words  are 
"  Kpovoi,  qui  est  idem  ;t/4voc,  i.  c.  spatium  temporis,  appellatus  est  Saturnus, 
quod  saturetur  annis.  Ex  se  enim  natos  comesse  fingitur  solitus,  quia  con- 
sumit  ottas  temporum  spatia,  annisque  praeteritis   insaturabiliter  expleter 

Edit, 


IJOOK  X.  HISTORY  CONNECTED.  59 

them,  and  of  the  stone  with  them."  Varro  has  given  a  philo- 
sophic solution  of  this  fable  also  ;^  but  I  would  observe,  that 
Saturn  was  the  first  in  these  parts,  who  introduced  a  regularity 
of  diet  amongst  his  people,^  and  he  might  perhaps  think  it  a 
matter  of  moment  to  begin  from  the  first  with  his  own  chil- 
dren. We  find  the  nursing  and  feeding  infants  with  proper 
food  became  a  sort  of  science  in  the  generation  next  after  him; 
and  had  directors  appointed  to  take  care  of  it.^  If  Saturn  had 
formed  any  scheme  of  this  sort,  and  upon  this  account  took 
his  children  as  soon  as  born  from  their  mother;  if  as  soon  as 
they  were  fit  for  it,  he  sent  them  abroad  for  education  into 
some  foreign  land  (and  the  figure  they  all  afterwards  made  in 
life,  renders  it  highly  probable,  that  they  had  better  instruc- 
tion than  Crete  was  at  this  time  able  to  give  them;)  this  might 
be  a  sufficient  foundation  for  the  fable  handed  down  to  us 
concerning  Saturn.  Rhea  sent  Jupiter  to  the  Curetes;  and  a 
bundle  of  clothes,  with  a  stone  wrapped  up  in  them  to  make 
them  heavy,  was  carried  where  Saturn  ordered,  instead  of 
him;  and  when  Jupiter  was  grown  up,  and  came  home  to  his 
father,  and  Saturn  thought  fit  to  have  his  other  children  re- 
called from  their  foreign  education  ;  as  he  was  before  said  to 
have  eaten  them,  so  now  he  might  be  represented  to  have 
vomited  them  up  again.  The  fancy  of  thre  mythologists  was 
extravagant  beyond  measure,  and  no  representation  could  ap- 
pear so  monstrous  or  ridiculous,  but  they  could  think  it  inge- 
nious to  dress  up  in  it  and  disguise  the  plainest  and  most  com- 
mon transactions  of  life.^ 

When  Saturn  died,  Jupiter  succeeded  to  his  kingdom.^ 
Here  again  the  mythologists  give  us  fable,  and  suggest  that 
Jupiter  deposed  his  father,  and  divided  his  dominions  between 
himself  and  his  brethren.^  But  Diodorus  informs  us,  that  there 
were  other  accounts  of  him  ;  that  he  came  to  his  crown  at  Sa- 
turn's death  as  his  rightful  heir,  without  attempts  of  his  own 
to  obtain  a  succession,  or  endeavours  of  others  to  prevent  it.- 
He  married  his  sister  Juno,^  and  by  her  had  children,  Hebe, 
Ilithya,  Argos,  Mars,  and  Vulcan."*     He  had  several   other 


•*  ApoUodor.  Biblioth.  lib.  i. 

''  Saturnum  dixerunt,  qux  nata  ex  eo  essent,  devorare  solitum,  quod  eo 
semina,  unde  nascerenlur,  redirent ;  et  quod  illi  pro  Jove  gleba  objecta  est 
devoranda,  significat  manibus  humanis  obriii  cccptas  sereiido  Iruges,  antequam 
subtilitas  arandl  esset  inventa.     Varro  in  Frag,  p,  42. 

*  Diodorus,  lib  v,  c.  66. 

'    ApTf/JtV     Si     (f'XG-tV     i-JfilV     TUV     TUV      VHTTICtV     ■^HjS'iaV      ■'^IpU.ITUU.V,     KUl     Tfi^A;     T/Cit; 

apf^c^x^ag  Til  (fu7it  T&'v  Qfipm.     Diodor.  c.  72. 

*  See  vol.  ii.  b.  viii.  Ev  tch  ttxvIi  a.tayt  ttoxko.  fxiv  Traxtti  a-vfji.dt.vlA  tfrtrct  ttvaa 
■mr-Mnto-n  i;  T«f  7r'.,KKv;,  a  th;  oLhtiBia-n  izrouoJ'ofAitvris  i-^iVT/unyn,     Pausan. 

9  Diodor.  Sic.  lib.  v,  c.  71.  '  ApoUod.  lib.  i,  c.  2. 

-   T/v£c    fAiv    (pxa-iv    aurcv    fxtTA    tuv    «^  ttv^rpceTriDV  th   Kgova  /u.iTA^a.o-(v   it;    -S-ess 

a.^ia)^vT:i  TMnc  Tfl?  Tifxn;. — Diodor,  lib.  v.  cap.  70. 

3  Diodor.  ibid. ;  Apollod.  Bibl.  lib.  i,  c.  3  ;  Hesiod.  eayov. 

4  Id.  ibid. 


60  SACRED  AND  PROFANE         BOOK  X. 

wives,  1.  Metis,  by  whom  he  had  Pallas/  2.  Themis,  who 
bare  him  Irene,  Eunomia,  and  Dica,  who  were  called  the 
Horffi,  and  Clotho,  Lachesis,  and  Atropos,  who  were  called 
the  Fates.''  3.  Euronome  was  the  mother  of  Aglaia,  Eu- 
phrosyne,  and  Thalia/  4,  Of  Styx,  or  rather  Ceres,  was  born 
Proserpine.'^  Of  Mnemosyne  was  born  the  Muses,  who  have 
commonly  been  said  to  be  nine  in  number ;  Varro  thought 
they  were  originally  only  three.^  6.  Latona  bare  him  Diana 
and  Apollo.^  7.  Venus  was  born  to  him  of  Dione.^  8.  Mer- 
cury of  Maia.^  9.  Bacchus  of  Semele  ;^  and  he  had  several 
other  children,  both  sons  and  daughters,  by  diveri5  other 
women.  But  let  us  endeavour  first  to  fix  with  a  little  more 
certainty  the  times  in  which  Jupiter  lived,  and  after  that  we 
may  take  a  farther  view  of  the  transactions  of  his  life. 

Jupiter  lived  about  eight  or  nine  generations  before  the 
Trojan  war;  which  may  be  very  clearly  computed  by  going 
through  the  genealogies  of  those  who  are  recorded  to  be  his 
descendants.  Thus  jEthlius,  king  of  Elea  in  Greece,  was  son 
of  Jupiter  and  Protogenia,  the  daughter  of  Deucalion.*  His 
son  Endymion  succeeded  him.*'  Epeus  son  of  Endymion  suc- 
ceeded him.^  ^tolus  brother  to  Epeus  was  his  successor,* 
and  after  ^tolus  reigned  Eleus  his  nephew.^  At  Eleus's 
death,  Augeas  son  of  Eleus  had  the  kingdom.^  Agasthenes 
son  of  Augeas  succeeded  his  father  ;2  and  Polyxenes  son  of 
Agasthenes,  grandson  of  Augeas,  commanded  at  Troy.^  Thus 

5  Ileslod.  ibid.  Apollrxlorus  supposes  that  Thetis  the  daughter  of  Nereus 
h.id  borne  him  Pallas.     Bibl.  lib.  i.  c.  3,  sec.  6. 

6  Hesiod.  ApoUod.  i  Ibid. 

8  Diodor.  lib.  v.  c.  2 ;   Ilesiod.  eeoy(,v.i  ApoUod.  lib.  i,  c.  3,  et  c.  5. 

9  Apol.  lib.  i,  c.  3.  Yano  dicit,  civitatem  iiescio  quam  (iieque  enim  recor- 
<lor  nomen)  locasse  apud  tres  artifices  tenia  simulachra  Musarum,  quze  iu 
templo  ApoUiiiis,  Deo  poneret,  at  quisquis  artificum  pulchriora  formasset,  ab 
illo  potissimum  electa  emeret.  Itaque  coiitigisse,  ut  opera  sua  quoque  illi  ar- 
tifices reque  pulchra  explicarent,  et  placuisse  civitati  omnes  novem,  atque 
omnes  emptas  esse,  ut  ApoUliiis  templo  dicarentur.quibus  postea  dicit  Ilesio- 
dum  poetam  imposuisse  vocabula.  Non  ergo  ait,  Jupiter  novem  Musas  genuit, 
sed  tres  fabri  ternas  fecerunt.  Tres  autem  non  proptevea  civitas  ilia  locaverat, 
quia  in  somnis  eas  viderat,  aut  tot  se  cujusquam  iUoriim  oculis  demonstra- 
verant  sed  quia  facile  erat  animadvcrtcre  omnem  sonum,  qui  materies  cantile- 
narum  est,  trifbrmem  esse  natura;  aut  cnim  editur  voce,  sicut  est  eorum,  qui 
i'aucibus  sine  instrumento  canunt,  aut  flatu  sicut  tubarum  et  tibarum,  aut 
pulsu  sicut  in  cytharis,  et  tympanis,  et  quibusdani  aliis,  que  percutiendo 
sonora  fiunt.  Vano  in  Fragment,  p.  207;  Vide  Augustin.  de  Doctrin.  Chris- 
tian.  lib.  ii,  c.  17. 

'  ApoUodor.  lib.  i.  c.  4.  ^/unT^cf  Si  A^ijuiv  d'uyctTipu,  mui,  ksu  x  Aktk,  wet 
AiyvTrrtuv  tov  hoycv,  AiTp(_uKcc  i^tS^a^iy  Eufupiavo;  tk;  'i.KKwa.i.  Pausan.  in  Arcad. 
c,o7. 

-  ApoUod.  c.  3.  3  Id.  lib,  iii,  c.  10,  sec.  2. 

"  Vid.  qux  sup. ;  Diodo.  Sic.  lib.  x,  p.  230 ;  Strab.  Ccog.  lib.  x,  p.  473. 

■>  Pausan.  lib.  v,  c.  1  ;  ApoUod.  Biblioth.  lib.  i,  c.  7.  It  ought  to  be  here 
n  marked,  that  iEtliiliiis  was  by  some  of  the  ancients  tliought  to  be  the  son  of 
-l^olus.     See  Pausan.  lib.  v,  c.  8. 

«  Apollod.  Ibid.  c.  7,  sec.  5  ;  Pausan.  ubi  sup. 

'  Pausan.  ibid.  8  Apollod.  sec.  6;  Pausan.  ubi  sup. 

'•'  Pausan.  ibid.  «   Pausan.  ibid, 

-  Pausan.  ibid.  lib.  v,  c.  3,  ^  Pausan.  ibid.  Horn.  II.  jS,  ver.  623.' 


BOOK  X.  HISTORY  CONNECTED.  61 

if  we  count  from  Jupiter  to  the  Trojan  war,  we  find  nine  suc- 
cessions, or  computing  Epeus  and  ^Etolus,  who  were  brothers, 
to  be  in  the  same  line  of  descent,  eight  generations.  In  the 
family  of  Thoas  the  son  of  Andraemon,  who  commanded  the 
iEtoliansin  the  Trojan  war,*  there  are  ten  descents;  for  Thoas 
was  six  from  iEtolus,^  and  iEtolus  as  above  was  four  from 
Jupiter.  In  like  manner  wc  find  ten  descents  from  Jupiter  to 
Diomedes,  four  to  ^Etolus  as  before.  Pleuron  was  son  of 
jEtolus,^  Agenor  of  Pleuron,^  CEneus  of  Agenor,^  Tydeus  of 
(Eneus,^  and  Diomedes  of  Tydeus.^  If  we  go  into  another 
branch  of  Jupiter's  family,  we  shall  find  the  accounts  much 
the  same.  Areas  was  the  son  of  Jupiter,  born  of  Callistho 
daughter  of  Lycaon.^  Areas  succeeded  Nyctimus  the  eldest 
son  of  Lycaon  in  the  kingdom  of  Arcadia.^  Azanas  son  of 
Areas  succeeded  him.'*  Clitor  son  of  Azanas  succeeded  his 
father.^  Epitus  a  nephew  of  Azanas  succeeded  Clitor,''  and 
Aleus  another  nephew  succeeded  Epitus;^  at  Aleus's  death 
his  son  Lycurgus  had  the  crown, ^  and  at  his  death  he  left  i-t 
to  Echemus.^  Agapenor  grandson  of  Lycurgus  succeeded 
Echemus,^  and  led  the  Arcadians  to  Troy.  Thus  from  Nycti- 
mus, who  may  be  supposed  to  be  coKtaneus  with  Jupiter,  to 
Agapenor  are  nine  successions;  and,  counting  Clitor,  Ipitus, 
and  Aleus,  who  were  brothers'  children,  to  be  in  the  same 
line  of  descent,  at  least  seven  generations.  In  Laconia  we  find 
Lacedsemon  king  of  that  country  was  son  of  Jupiter  and  Tay- 
gete  daughter  of  Atlas.^  Amyclas  the  next  king  was  his  son  f 
Argalus  succeeded  his  father  Amyclas;"  and  Cynortas  Arga- 
lus;^  and  Cynortas  left  his  crown  to  (Ebalus.^  When  ffibalus 
died,  Hippocoon  got  possession  of  the  throne,  and  for  a  time 
defeated  Tyndareus  the  son  of  CEbalus  f  but  after  some  years 
Tyndareus  ejected  him,*  and  recovered  the  kingdom.  Tyn- 
dareus had  tivo  sons,  Castor  and  Pollux,^  but  they  both  died 
before  him.^  He  married  his  daughter  Helen  to  Menelaus  the 
son  of  Atreus,^  and  at  his  death  Menelaus  succeeded  him  in 
his  kingdom.^  Thus  from  Lacedasmon  the  son  of  Jupiter  to 
Helen  and  Menelaus,  for  whom  the  Greeks  warred  at  Troy, 
are  eight  reigns  and  seven  descents;  or  eight  descents  from 
Jupiter.     Again,  Dardanus  king  of  Troy  was  son  of  Jupiter 

4  Pausan,  ubi  sup.  Horn.  II.  0  ver.  638.  s  Pausan.  ubi  sup. 

«  ApoUod.  lib.  j,  c.  7,  sec.  6.  -  Id.  ibid, 

8  Id.  ibid.  9  Id.  ibid.  >  Id.  ibid. 

-  Hyg.  Fab.  155 ;  ApoUod.  Biblio.  lib.  iii,  c.  8,  sec.  2 ;  Pausan.  in  Arcad.  c.  3. 

^  Pausan.  ibid.  c.  4.  •*  Id.  ibidl  s  id,  Jbid. 

6  Id.  in  Arcad.  c.  4.  ^  ibid. 

«  Ibid,  9  Ibid. 

1  Id.  c.  5  ;  Horn.  II.  ^  ver.  609. 

2  Hygin.  Fab.  155 ;  ApoUod.  Bibl,  lib.  iii.  c,  10,  sec,  3  ;  Pausan.  in  Laconic, 
c.  i, 

3  Pausan.  ibid.  4  Jd.  ibid.  s  id.  ibid. 
*  Id.  ibid.  7  la.  ibid.  s  Id.  ibid. 
^  ApoUod.  Biblioth.  lib,  iii,  c.  9,  sec,  7.  '  Id.  c.  10. 

^  Id.  ibid.  c.  9,  sec.  8.  3  Id.  ibid.  c.  10, 


62  SACRED  AND  PROFANE  BOOK  X. 

and  Electra,  daughter  of  Atlas,"  Erichthonius  of  Dardanus/ 
Tros  of  Erichthonius,*  Ilus  of  Tros,^  Laomedon  of  Ilus,* 
Priamus  of  Laomedon.^  Priamus  was  an  old  man  when  the 
Greeks  warred  against  him ;  his  son  Hector  was  then  in  his 
full  strength,  and  about  the  age  of  the  Greek  commanders, 
and  from  Jupiter  to  Hector  are  eight  descents.  We  might 
examine  the  accounts  we  have  of  other  families,  and  in  all,  of 
whom  we  have  sufficient  remains,  we  should  find  Jupiter 
about  eight  or  nine  generations  before  the  Trojan  war.  Suc- 
cessions in  families  vary  enough  to  cause  this  difference  of  a 
descent  or  two ;  but  we  have  no  genealogies  that  will  allow  us 
to  place  him  later  than  the  time  of  Moses ;  for  Moses  lived 
from  A.  M.  2433  to  A.  M.  2550.^  Take  the  middle  of  his 
life  A.  M.  2493,  from  thence  to  the  war  at  Troy  are  about 
three  hundred  years,  supposing  Troy  to  have  been  taken 
about  A.  M.  2796^;  and  if  we  count  eight  or  nine  descents  in 
this  space  of  time,  we  go  between  thirty  and  forty  years  to  a 
descent,  and  the  generations  we  have  examined  being  for  the 
most  part  by  the  elder  sons,  this  may  pretty  well  agree  with 
the  length  of  such  generations  in  these  times. 

As  what  I  have  offered  does  abundantly  hint,  that  Jupiter 
lived  about  the  age  of  Moses,  so  the  particulars  of  his  life  do 
farther  confirm  it,  and  may  perhaps  enable  us  to  settle  more 
exactly  the  time  when  he  flourished.  1.  For  Jupiter  visited 
Lycaon  king  of  Arcadia,^  and  had  a  son  named  Areas,  born 
of  Callistho,  Lycaon's  daughter.''  Now  Lycaon  was  contem- 
porary, and  of  about  the  same  years  with  the  elder  Cecrops.'' 
Cecrops  reigned  in  Attica  from  A.  M.  2423  to  A.  M.  2473.'^ 
Lycaon  was  advanced  towards  old  age  when  Jupiter  visited 
him ;  for  his  children  were  all  grown  up,  and  of  age  to  build 
cities  and  govern  nations.''  Jupiter  therefore  visited  him  about 
the  end  of  the  life  of  Cecrops ;  and  not  earlier  than  the  for- 
tieth year  of  Moses's  age.  But  we  may  fix  this  matter  with 
still  greater  certainty.  Lycaon  died  by  the  hand  of  Jupiter:^ 
at  his  death  Nyctimus  his  eldest  son  had  his  crown.^  Nyc- 
timus  was  made  king  of  Arcadia  just  upon  the  time  of  Deu- 
calion's flood;'  and  the  ancients  supposed  that  flood  had  hap- 
pened A.  M.  2476  ;2  so  that  about  this  year  Jupiter  was  in 

*  Id.  ibkl.lib.  iii,  c.  11;  Diodor.  Sic.  Hist.  lib.  v,c.  48;  Ilom.ll. :/,  vcr.  215. 

5  Dlodor.  lib.  iv,  c.  75  ;  Horn.  11.  v,  ver.  219. 
c  Diodor.  ubi  sup. ;  Horn.  11.  v,  ver.  230. 

"  Dlodor.;  Horn.  ibid.  *  lid.  ibid.  '  lid.  ibid. 

I  See  vol.  ii,  book  ix  ;  Deut.  xxxiv,  7.  -  Id.  book  viii. 

3  Hygin.  Fab.  176;  Apol.  Bib.  lib.  iii,  c.  8. 

"*  lid   ibid.;  Pausan.  in  Arcadic.  c.  3,  4. 

I'ausan.  in  Arcad.  c.  2. 

6  See  vol.  ji,  b.  viii.  '  Vid.  Pausan.  in  Arcad,  c.  3. 

*  Apol.  ubi  sup.  9  Pausan.  ubi  sup.;   Apollod,  Ibid. 

'  NvxT/,«!f  (A  £a.n>.itsi)i  TrupuXAdyla  a  st<  AEyxa/javc;  Ki.ToLM.'Jiruc:  tyivi-rc. 
Apollod.  ubi  sup. 

■  Marmor.  Arundell.  Ep.  ir. 


BOOK  X.  HISTORY  CONNECTED.  63 

Arcadia,  namely  three  years  after  the  death  of  Cecrops,  and 
in  the  forty-third  year  of  Moses,  Jupiter  was  undoubtedly  of 
years  of  wisdom,  authority,  and  experience  of  the  world,  when 
he  transacted  the  aflfairs  of  Lycaon's  kingdom  ;  and  to  this 
agrees,  2.  What  we  farther  find  from  the  marble,  that  Mars 
the  son  of  Jupiter  was  tried  at  Athens  for  the  death  of  Halir- 
rothius  the  son  of  Neptune,  A.  M.  2473  f  so  that  before  Ju- 
piter's expedition  to  Arcadia,  his  sons  w^ere  grown  up  and  en- 
gaged in  the  world.  3.  Epaphus  was  son  of  Jupiter,  born  of 
lo."  Here  indeed  some  of  the  genealogists  make  a  mistake ; 
for  they  suppose  lo  to  be  the  daughter  of  Inachus;  which 
would  argue  that  Jupiter  had  lived  three  hundred  years  earlier 
than  the  times  we  are  treating  of,  for  Inachus  reigned  at  Ar- 
gos  about  A.  M.  2154/  But  Apollodorus  has  observed  and 
corrected  this  error;  who  remarks,  that  lo  the  mother  of 
Epaphus  was  not  daughter  of  Inachus,  but  of  Jasus.*'  Jasus, 
the  father  of  lo,  was  son  to  Triopas  king  of  Argos;'^  so  that 
lo  was  Triopas's  grand-daughter.  Triopas  was  the  sixth  king 
of  Argos  from  Inachus;^  for  Apis  ought  not  to  be  inserted 
amongst  the  Argive  kings.^  Now  if  we  count  the  number  of 
years  from  the  first  year  of  Inachus  to  the  last  year  of  Triopas, 
we  shall  find  them  to  amount  to  three  hundred  and  fifteen.^ 
Compute  then  three  hundred  and  fifteen  years  from  A.  M. 
2154,  the  first  year  of  Inachus,  and  we  come  down  to  A.  M. 
2469,  in  which  year  Triopas  died.  If  Triopas  lived  to  see 
his  grand-daughter  matched  to  Jupiter,  as  certainly  he  well 
might;  then  lo  might  marry  him  about  seven  or  eight  years 
before  Jupiter's  expedition  into  Arcadia;  or  if  she  was  not 
grown  up  until  some  years  after  her  grandfather's  death,  yet 
Jupiter's  acquaintance  with  her  proves  very  well  his  living  in 
these  times.  4.  Minos  is  said  to  have  been  the  son  of  Jupiter, 
born  of  Europa  daughter  of  Agenor.^  This  I  am  sensible  is 
a  false  account  of  Minos,  and  therefore,  though  it  might  easily 
be  made  to  coincide  with  the  times  of  Jupiter,  as  Europa  is 
generally  said  to  have  been  the  sister  of  Cadmus,  yet,  as  it 
would  not  be  a  true  account  of  Minos's  ancestors,  it  would  be 
trifling  to  offer  any  thing  about  it.  The  Minos  so  much  talked 
of  among  the  Greeks  was  contemporary  with  Daedalus;^  and 
Daedalus  was  the  son  of  Eupalamus,-*  who  had  a  daughter  that 
was  married  to  the  second  Cecrops;*  and  his  son  Daedalus  with 
Minos  flourished  about  the  time  of  ^geus,^  who  reigned 


^  Id.  Ep.  iii. 

■*  Hygln.  Fab.  155;  ApoUod.  lib.  ii,  c.  i,  sec.  3. 

5  See  vol.  ii,  b.  vi.  6  Apollodor.Bib.  lib.  ii,  c.  1, 

7  Paiisan.  in  Corinthiac.  c.  16.  s  Castar.  in  Euseb,  Chron. 

I  See  vol.  ii,  b.  viii.  i  vid.  Castor,  in.  Chronic.  Euseb, 

-   Apollod.  Biblioth,  lib.  iii,  c.  1 ;  Hvgin.  Fab.  155. 

=»  Apollod.  Biblioth.  lib.  iii,  c.  14,  sec.  5 ;  Diod.  Sic.  lib.  iv,  c.  77. 

*  ApoU.  ibid.  5  Id.  ibid.  lib.  iii,  c.  14,  sec.  5. 

^Apoll.  ibid. 


64  SACRED  AND  PROFANE        BOOK  X. 

at  Athens  from  A.  M.  2697  to  A.  M.  2745;^  so  that  this  Mi- 
nos lived  about  one  hundred  and  fifty  years  after  Moses's 
death.  The  placing  this  Minos  about  these  times,  agrees  per- 
fectly well  with  the  accounts  we  have  of  his  descendants  down 
to  the  Trojan  war;  for  he  was  in  the  third  generation  before 
that  expedition ;  for  the  sons  of  Minos  were  Deucalion  and 
Molus,  and  their  sons  Idomeneus  and  Meriones  warred  at 
Troy.**  Sir  John  Marsham  very  judiciously  observes  from 
the  hints  of  the  ancient  writers,  that  there  were  two  Minos's; 
that  the  former  was  the  grandfather  of  the  latter;  that  the 
length  of  time  and  the  inaccuracy  of  writers  had  caused  them 
to  be  both  taken  for  one  man ;  and  that  their  genealogy  rightly 
stated  would  stand  thus.  Tectamus  son  of  Dorus,  Asterius 
son  of  Tectamus,  Minos  of  Asterius,  Lycastus  of  Minos,  the 
second  Minos  of  Lycastus,  Deucalion  of  Minos,  Idomenus  of 
Deucalion.^  This  is  the  true  account  of  this  family,  and  ac- 
cording to  this  acccount  the  first  Minos  stands  five  generations 
before  the  Trojan  war;  in  the  same  line  of  descent  before  Ido- 
meneus who  warred  at  Troy,  as  Tros  king  of  Troy  does  be- 
fore Hector.  And  this  agrees  with  what  is  related  of  this 
Minos,  that  he  stole  Ganymedes  from  Tros  his  father:  for  not 
Jupiter,  but  this  Minos  was  anciently  recorded  to  have  com- 
mitted that  rape.^  Farther;  this  time  of  Minos  agrees  with 
what  the  marble  records,  that  he  reigned  at  Apollonia,  A.  M. 
2573.^  Hellen,  who  was  father  of  Dorus,^  and  therefore  grand- 
father of  Tectamus,  the  progenitor  of  the  family,  was  about 
Jupiter's  age;  for  Amphictyon,  who  was  brother  of  Hellen,"' 
succeeded  Cranaus,  and  reigned  at  Athens  in  the  year  2484,'^ 
i.  e.  about  eight  years  after  Jupiter's  being  in  Arcadia.  Now 
count  down  from  Hellen  to  Idomeneus,  who  warred  at  Troy, 
and  we  have  Hellen,  Dorus,  Tectamus,  Asterius,  Minos,  Ly- 
castus, Minos  the  second,  Deucalion,  and  Idomeneus;  that  is, 
nine  generations  from  Hellen,  who  was  contemporary  with 
Jupiter,  to  the  Trojan  war.  We  find  a  generation  more  in 
the  families  of  Thoas  and  of  Diomedes  above-mentioned,  and 
a  generation  less  in  the  family  of  Agasthenes.  In  the  Arca- 
dian roll  of  kings  we  have  but  seven  descents  from  Nyctimus 
to  Agapenor ;  but  agreeable  to  this,  in  another  line  of  Hellen's 
descendants,  we  have  exactly  seven  down  from  Hellen  to 
Glaucus,  who  exchanged  armour  with  Diomedes  in  the  fields 
of  Troy;®  namely,  Hellen,  vEolus,  Sisyphus,  Glaucus,  Belle- 

"  Cecrops  began  his  reign  in  Attica  A.  M.  2423  ;  see  vol.  ii,  b.  viii.  Count 
the  years  of  the  several  reigns  of  the  Attic  kings  in  Chronic.  Euseb.  down  to 
JEgeus,  and  iEgeus's  reign  will  fall  in  the  years  I  have  .allotted  to  it. 

s  Diodorus  Sic.  lib.  v,  c.  79:   Homer.  Il.'v,  ver.  245  ;  11.  C,  ver.  6o0. 

9  Marsham.  Can  Chronic,  p.  243. 

\then?eiis  Deipnosophist.  lib.  xili,  p.  601. 
-  Vlarmor.  Arundell.  Epoch.  11.  3  Apollodor.  Bibliotb.  lib.  i.  c.  7. 

'  Id.  ibid.  •'*  See  vol.  ii,  b.  viii. 

'■'  Homer.  II.  ^,  ver.  235. 


BOOK  X.  HISTORY  CONNECTED.  65 

rophon,  Hippolochus,  and  Glaucus/  who  commanded  the  Ly- 
cians.*  Thus,  allowing  the  difference  arising  from  descents 
happening  by  the  elder  or  the  younger  children,  the  true  ac- 
count of  Minos's  genealogy  synchronizes  with  the  descents  in 
other  families,  and  confirms  the  times  of  Jupiter  agreeably 
to  them.  5.  Lacedaemon  was  son  of  Jupiter  and  Taygete 
daughter  of  Atlas  ;^  according  to  the  marble  Lacedaemon 
reigned  at  Laconia  about  A.  M,  2489.^  The  marble  joins 
Eurotas  and  Lacedaemon  together;^  but  Eurotas  was  really 
Lacedsemon's  predecessor.  Whether  the  composer  of  the 
Marble  Chronicon  apprehended  his  Epoch  something  too  early 
for  the  reign  of  Lacedaemon,  and  by  joining  Eurotas  with  liim 
intended  to  hint,  that  the  year  he  fixed  on  fell  in  Lacedae- 
mon's,  or  at  most  in  Eurotas's  reign ;  or  whether  he  supposed 
Eurotas,  at  the  time  he  mentions,  took  Laceda2mon  into  part- 
nership of  his  kingdom,  I  cannot  say  :  but  take  it  either  way, 
and  the  time  of  Lacedsmon's  birth  must  prove  that  Jupiter 
lived  in  these  times.  If  Lacedaemon  was  taken  partner  with 
Eurotas  in  his  kingdom  A.  M.  2489,  he  might  be  a  young 
man  when  thus  admitted  to  reign  with  him,  perhaps  not 
thirty,  and  so  might  be  born  about  A.  M.  2460,  and  this  year 
falls  sixteen  years  before  Jupiter's  expedition  to  Arcadia.  If 
the  epoch  rather  belongs  to  Eurotas  than  to  Lacedasmon's 
reign,  still  Lacedaemon  must  have  been  born  about  the  time 
above-mentioned ;  though  he  waited  some  years,  and  was  of 
riper  age,  when  Eurotas  left  him  his  kingdom.^  Bacchus  was 
son  of  Jupiter  and  Semele,  daughter  of  Cadmus.*  Now  Cad- 
mus came  to  Thebes,  A.  M.  2486.^  Cadmus  did  not  marry 
Harmonia  the  mother  of  Semele  until  after  he  was  settled 
there.^  Apollodorus  suggests  that  eight  years  had  passed  be- 
fore he  married.''  Semele  born  of  these  parents  could  not  be 
grown  up  for  Jupiter,  until  above  twenty  years  after.  Sup- 
pose her  twenty-one  when  Jupiter  fell  in  love  with  her,  and 
we  shall  fix  the  time  of  this  amour  to  about  thirty  years  after 
Cadmus  came  to  Thebes,  to  A.  M.  2516.  Jupiter  v/as  now  an 
old  man,  for  his  son  Mars  was  grown  up,  and  tried,  as  has 
been  said,  before  the  court  of  Areopagus,  forty-three  years 
before  this  time.  Jupiter  therefore  must  now  have  been  above 
ninety,  perhaps  about  ninety -five ;  an  age,  we  may  think,  too 

7  Id.  II.  ead.  ver.  150—205.  «  II.  C,  ver.  876. 

9  ApoUodor.  Biblioth.  lib.  iii,  c.  10  j  Hvgin.  Fab.  155  ;  Pausan.  in  Laconic. 
c.l. 

•  Marm.  Arundell.  Ep.  viii. 

2   A^  a  Et/gajT-ac  kcu  AuxuS'ni/iy.av  AeiKOVIioi;  iCAtriKiu<ra.v  irn  XHH|  A  |lr.     /BctaiKii/cvlcg 
'A-S'itvav  'A/Actnluovic.     Marmor.  ibid. 

*  — Et/^o/Tav,  cTi  Si,  UK  cvrav  avTU  vsLtScev  appivcev,  Cxa-iAiuiiv  Kur^KUvit  AxxiSiUfAovct. 
Pausan.  in  Lucon.  c.  1. 

4  Hvgin.  Fab.  155  ;   ApoUodor.  Biblloth.  lib.  iii,  c.  4,  sec.  2;  Diodor.  Sic, 
lib.  iii,  p.  1S6,  lib.  iv,  p.  147. 

5  See  vol.  ii,  b.  viii,  «  Diodor.  Sic.  lib.  iv,  c.  ". 
■?  ApoUodor.  BibUoth,  lib.  iii,  c.  4,  sec.  2. 

Vol.  III.  I 


66  SACRED  AND  PROFANE         BOOK  X. 

advanced  for  so  gay  an  amour ;  but  we  must  recollect  the 
length  of  men's  lives  in  these  ages,  and  consider,  that  when 
Moses,  who  was  Jupiter's  contemporary,  died  at  one  hundred 
and  twenty  years  of  age,  he  had  not  lived  until  either  his  eye 
was  dim,  or  his  natural  force  abated.^  Thus  we  find  reason 
to  suppose  that  Jupiter  had  been  about  ninety-five  years  old 
A.  M.  2516,  /.  e.  in  the  third  year  after  the  Israelites'  exit 
out  of  Egypt;  and,  consequently,  that  he  was  born  about  A.M. 
2421;  that  he  was  about  fifty-two  when  his  son  Mars  was 
tried  at  Athens;  about  fiftj'-five  when  he  made  his  expedition 
into  Arcadia ;  about  forty-eight  when  he  courted  the  mother 
of  Epaphus,  and  about  thirty-eight  when  he  addressed  Tay- 
gete,  of  whom  was  born  Lacedaemon.  Now  these  particulars 
are  all  so  probable  in  themselves,  so  consistent  with  one  ano- 
ther, and  supported  by  concurrent  hints  from  such  different 
writers,  that  instead  of  supposing  a  want  of  proof  of  the  times 
of  Jupiter,  we  have  rather  reason  to  be  surprised,  that  so 
many  such  reasonable  and  concurring  intimations  can  be 
picked  up,  to  fix  with  any  appearance  of  probability  the  epoch 
of  a  man,  whose  whole  life  and  actions  have  been  for  ages  dis- 
guised, by  an  almost  infinite  heap  of  fable  blended  with  them; 
not  to  mention  the  defects  of  the  ancient  profane  history,  and 
the  thousands  of  years  between  us  and  him. 

I  know  nothing  which  can  be  objected  to  the  placing  Jupi- 
ter in  this  age,  but  some  accounts  we  have  in  the  mythological 
writers  of  persons  said  to  be  descended  from  him,  who  lived 
in  ages  later.  Thus  Jupiter  is  said  to  be  the  father  of  Hercu- 
les, born  of  Alcmena  wife  of  Amphitryon  ;'^  of  Castor  and 
Pollux,  born  of  Lcda  wife  of  Tyndareus;^  of  Perseus,  born 
of  Danae  daughter  of  Acrisius;^  of  jEacus  the  father  of  Tela- 
mon  and  Peleus;^  of  Arcesius  the  ancestor  of  Ulysses,'*  and 
of  many  others.  Now,  if  he  really  was  the  father  of  any  of 
these  persons,  he  must  have  lived  about  three  generations 
only  before  the  Trojan  war.  Perseus  was  indeed  about  five 
descents  before  that  expedition;  but  the  other  heroes  I  have 
named  were  grandfathers  or  contemporaries  with  the  grand- 
fathers or  fathers  of  the  warriors  at  Troy.  But  let  us  observe, 
that  the  mythologists  recorded  many  of  their  heroes  as  being 
descended  of  the  gods,  though  other  persons  were  their  real 
parents.  Thus  Autolycus  was  said  to  be  the  son  of  jNIercury, 
when  in  truth  Dffidalion  was  his  father;*  and  this  happened 
either,  1.  When  a  heix)  had  borne  the  name  of  one,  who  had 
lived  ages  before  him.  In  length  of  time,  the  father  of  the 
former  came  to  be  reputed  the  father  of  the  latter;  both  being 
taken  for  but  one  and  the  same  man.     This  was  the  case  of 

«  Deut.  xxxiv,  7.  »  Hyi?.  Fab.  et  al. 

»  Id.  ibid.  2  Id",  "ibid. 

3  Apnllod.  lib.  iii,  c.  11,  sec.  6;  Ovid.  Metam.  *  Ovid.  ibid. 

Paiisan.  iti  Arcad.  c.  4. 


BOOK  X.  HISTORY  CONNECTED.  67 

Hercules:  there  were  two  of  that  namej  one  indeed  a  son  of 
Jupiter,^  who  lived  ages  before  the  son  of  Alcmena.'  But  the 
latter  Hercules  having  copied  after  the  illustrious  actions  of 
the  former,  in  length  of  time  both  were  taken  for  one  and  the 
same  person;  and  the  history  and  parentage  of  both  ascribed  to 
him,^  and  a  fable  was  easily  invented  for  the  wife  of  Amphi- 
tryon being  with  child  by  Jupiter.^  Or,  2.  When  Jupiter, 
Neptune,  Mercury,  and  the  other  persons  ranked  with  them 
came  to  be  deified,  princes  and  rulers  thought  it  not  only  an 
lionour,  but  good  policy,  and  conducive  to  the  management  of 
their  affairs,  to  derive  their  pedigree  from  some  of  them, 
Alexander  the  Great  would  have  done  it  in  his  day,^  and 
reasons  of  state  were  his  motives  for  it.^  Arrian  thought  he 
had  as  good  a  title  to  it  as  the  more  ancient  heroes;^  and  if 
the  matters  were  rightly  considered,  not  to  be  blamed  for  at- 
tempting it.''  It  raised  them  high  in  the  common  estimation ; 
and  they  were  reputed  to  have  the  greater  influence,  powers, 
and  protection,  the  greater  the  god  was  from  whom  they 
could  derive  their  descent.^  Thus  Pausanias  thought  he 
might  assert,  that  the  son  of  Phoroneus  would  never  have 
been  esteemed  equal  to  the  son  of  Niobe,  upon  a  supposition 
that  Jupiter  was  Niobe's  son's  father;^  and  this  was  Homer's 
reason  for  Asteropaeus  not  being  able  to  cope  with  Achilles. 
Asteropseus  was  said  to  be  only  the  descendant  of  a  river  god, 
but  Achilles's  pedigree  was  deduced  from  Jupiter.^  It  is  easy 
to  suppose,  that  when  these  opinions  were  in  repute,  kings 
and  governors  would  be  fond  of  ennobling  themselves  by  the 
divinity  of  their  ancestors;  and  they  might  find  it  no  hard 


6  niodor.  lib,  v,  c,  76, 

■7  'VifictKKiu.  ix,  Aiog  yivio-Qai  Trctf/.TraWctt  tTtrt  «r/J«T«/)OV  t»  yovti^arGt  t^  A^k//{))V«{. 
Id.  ibid. 

8  Tcf  cTs  f|  Aa.XjM«v«c  'Hpsui\ix  TruyrixcuQ  vtmnpcv  evict,  km  ^tixwrm  •yivo/uKViv  T*f 
TK  TrxK^ia  TrpoMpiTiu;,  S'i<t  Tag  avTXs  aurixi  tv^itv  Tt  TJif  ct^ttvua-ia.g,  >uu  Xf'"''^ 
ryyivo/uevasv,  Six  tjjv  CfJi.U:WiJ.ia.v  S'o^ai  tsv  uurcv  Uvxi,  not  to.;  ts  (SrpoTips  Trptt^U!  fit 
Tulcv  (AiTOLTna-itv ,  etyvovvlav  tuv  'o-owcdv  t'  ax»^i;.     Diodor.  lib,  V,  c.  76. 

9  Vid.  ApoUodor.  Biblioth.  lib.  ii,  c.  4,  seo.  8. 

>  Arrian.  de  Expedit.  Alexand.  lib.  iii,  c.  3;  Plutarch  in  Alexand ;  Quint. 
Curt.  lib.  V. 

2  lliud  pene  dig'num  risu  fuit,  quod  Hermolaus  postulat  a  me,  ut  aversarer 
Jovem,  cujiis  oraculo  agnoscor. — Obtulit  nomen  filii  mihi :  recipere  ipsis  rebus 
quas  agimus  baud  aiier.um  fuit :  utinam  Iiidi  quoque  Deum  esse  me  credant: 
fama  enim  bella  constant,  et  ssepe  etiam,  quod  false  creditum  est,  veri  vicem 
obtinuit.     Curtius,  lib.  viii,  sec.  8. 

3  Arrian.  lib  vii,  p.  504. 

''  Ort  Si  it;  Srav  rm  yivifiv  Tm  etvns  etviptpiv,  nth  tuto  (fAOi  Smu  iunt  vxufAfAf- 
:::'Lix,  u  jUH  nAt  eropa-fjia.  uv  ru^ov  ff  T«f  vTrmasc  Ttt  vty.V)i  ftvut.     Arnan  ibid. 

^  ;^aA6Tov   TCit  i^ta-Baioc  Kpoviavo; 

Tl<u3-n  igti^ifjiiicu,   Tlcnt/uoio,  •np  vt-yiyxxiiTi. 
Tu  KpiKTO'U'V  fxii   Zswc   noTrt/xa'v  OLXifAvpnivlaiV, 
Kpuaa-ttiv  <r'  ctUTE  A/s?  yivtn   TLontjuoio  TirvKlaj, 

Horn.  li.  p,  ver.  184. 
'^  E>w    (Ts    (u  o/Jk,  ftjc  »*  ifAiWPj  0  TTtu;  eLurcc  N<;f)if  TTif.iS'i  icra.  ct<ri<rB:tl,  tii%  i'- 
■ivm  SoKxvrt.     Pausan.  in  Corinthiac.  c.  34. 
■^  Homer  ubi  sup. 


68  SACRED  AND  PROFANE         BOOK  X. 

matter  to  succeed  in  their  claims,  when  their  statesmen  and 
officers  in  the  highest  employments  might  think  pretences  of 
this  sort,  how  ill-grounded  soever,  yet  capahle  of  promoting 
the  public  good,  by  the  effect  they  might  have  upon  both 
prince  and  people.**  Their  vates  or  their  oracles  could  secure 
them  their  title  ;^  or  history  and  genealogies  being  but  little 
known  in  these  times,  it  was  easy  to  insert  a  god  at  the  head 
of  a  family.  There  might  be  no  necessity  of  going  far  back 
to  do  this  with  security ;  and  some  families  were  so  fortunate, 
as  to  be  divine  this  way  by  both  parents;  Ulysses's  descen- 
dants shone  with  this  double  lustre.^  Or,  3.  The  gods  were 
introduced  into  families  to  preserve  their  honour,  to  prevent 
the  infamy  of  their  ancestors  coming  down  to  posterity.  Thus 
Tyro  the  daughter  of  Salmoneus  had  two  children  before  she 
married,  namely  Pelias  and  Neleus  the  father  of  Nestor.^  She 
loved  to  walk  upon  the  banks  of  Enipcus;^  but  we  are  not 
told  who  the  gallant  was,  whom  she  so  often  met  there. 
When  she  came  to  be  delivered,  she  took  care  to  be  in  pri- 
vate,"* and  got  rid  of  the  children  in  the  best  manner  she 
could  ;*  and  was  after  reputably  married.^  Thus  she  behaved 
in  every  step  like  a  person  sensible  of  having  exposed  herself 
to  infamy,  but  desirous  to  avoid  it.  Posterity  derived  honour 
to  her  descendants  from  the  accident.  Neptune  was  said  to 
have  been  in  love  with  her,  and  in  the  shape  of  the  river 
Enipeus  to  have  been  the  father  of  her  two  children.^  Thus 
again  Danae  the  daughter  of  Acrisius  played  the  harlot  with 
Proetus,^  and  her  father,  enraged  at  the  dishonour  done  his  fa- 
mily, would  admit  of  no  excuse  for  her  misbehaviour,  but  ex- 
posed at  sea  both  her  and  the  infant.'^  In  after-ages  a  fable 
was  sufficient  to  clear  her  character;  Jupiter  was  said  to  have 
been  the  father  of  her  child,  and  to  have  wrought  a  miracle  to 
gain  access  to  her.^  The  Greeks  were  not  historians  in  the 
early  times;  and  when  their  poets  and  mythologists  began  to 

8  Utile  esse  civitatibus,  ut  se  viri  fortes,  etiamsi  falsum  sit,  ex  diis  genitos 
esse  credant :  ut  eo  modo  animus  humanus,  velut  divinae  stirpis  fiduciam 
gerens,  res  magnas  aggrediendas  praesumat  audacius,  agat  vehementius,  et  ob 
hoc  impleat  ipsas  securitate  felicius.  Varro  in  Fragment,  p.  45.  Aryu  <fs  xa< 
VKir  KTOc  0  xoyoi  eaji^tA  ;^&),a»ot,  ctz  oa-mv  ttv  nahtuiv  fji.ii  6eaf,  ttKKa.  tk  cip^ii 
■S-nxTo,-,  8X.  CTi  KMutv  etuhis  xift  TTovoiv  AVA-\,iv^i(.  Plato  dc  Lcgib.  lib.  iv,  p.  830, 
Edit.  Ficin. 

3  OuSi  ^ottlt  'HpsuKu  S-f.'*/  TtfAsu  iyivovlo,  aii  Tt\(ur>i<ra.Yli  'nrporStv  »  Trgn;  rx  Bex 
TK  (V  Asxfo/f  (TriSny-^iir&xvou  cue  Suv  nrifjut.)/  'H^akmx,  AiTJan.  de  Expedit.  Alex, 
lib.  iv. 

'  Nam  mihi  Laertes  pater  est,  Arcesius  illi, 

.Tupitcr  hulc 

Est  quoque  per  matrem  Cyllenius  addita  nobis 

Altera  nobilitas  :  Deus  est  in  utroque  parente. 

Ovid.  Metam, 
2  Apollodor.  nibliotli.  lib.  i,  c.  9.  3  Ibid. 

•*   rJ'/VJfO-sdTi   xoufi   SiivfAiiZ.      Ibid. 

*  n«*fac  £xT/9n3-;v Ibid.  6  Id.  ibid. 

■  Apollodor.  Bibliotb.  lib.  i,  c.  9.  s  Id.  lib.  ii,  c.  4. 

<"  Id.  ibid.  1  Ibid. 


BOOK  X.  HISTORY  CONNECTED.  69 

dip  into  the  registries  of  families,  it  would  not  have  been 
borne  to  have  had  the  vices  of  the  ancestors  of  the  great 
brought  into  open  view  ;  especially  when  writers  of  genius 
could  readily,  from  the  theology  then  in  vogue  and  the  fable 
of  the  age,  find  a  reputable  and  secure  cover  for  them.  Now- 
one  or  other  of  these  reasons  may  evidently  be  assigned  for 
the  instances  to  be  met  with  of  any  of  the  reputed  gods  of  the 
heathens  being  engaged  in  gallantries  with  the  ladies  of  later 
ages  than  about  the  times  of  Moses,  and  in  particulai'  for  the 
several  pretences  of  Jupiter's  having  descendants  later  than 
can  be  consistent  with  the  time  of  life  above  supposed  to  be- 
long to  him. 

There  is,  I  think,  one  instance,  which  should  not  be  en- 
tirely passed  over  without  taking  notice  of  it;  which  would 
place  tfupiter  not  later,  but  a  great  deal  earlier  than  his  true 
age.  Jupiter  is  said  to  have  been  the  father  of  Argus  by 
Niobe  daughter  of  Phoroneus.^  This  Argus  succeeded  Pho- 
roneus,  and  was  king  of  Argos,^  and  began  to  reign  there  one 
hundred  and  ten  years  after  the  first  year  of  Inachus,"*  i.  e. 
A.  M.  2264,*  which  are  one  hundred  and  sixty-nine  years  be- 
fore the  birth  of  Moses;  so  that  supposing  Jupiter  to  be  the 
father  of  this  Argus,  would  be  to  place  him  above  a  century 
and  half  earlier  than  the  times  we  have  contended  for.  I 
might  observe,  that  the  most  exact  writers  took  this  account 
of  Argus's  descent  to  be  rather  common  opinion  than  real 
fact.^  But  there  were  two  Argus's,  one  a  king  of  Argos,  who 
reigned  there  ages  before  Jupiter  was  born ;  the  other  was 
sui'named  Panoptes,  and  lived  in  Jupiter's  time,  and  Juno  is 
said  to  have  committed  lo  to  his  custody,^  but  neither  of  them 
were  descended  from  Jupiter.  The  former  Argus  was  the 
son  of  Arestor;  and  hence  Ovid  was  probably  led  into  a  mis- 
take, thinking  that  Panoptes  Argus,  whom  he  calls  Aresto- 
rides,^  was  the  son  of  this  parent.  Arestor  married  Inachus's 
daughter,^  and  by  her  had  Argus,  who,  upon  Phoroneus  leav- 
ing no  son,^  succeeded  to  his  kingdom.  The  latter  Argus  was 
son  of  Agenor,  the  son,^  or  perhaps  brother  of  Jasus.^  Jasus, 
as  had  been  said,  was  father  of  lo,  one  of  Jupiter's  concubines; 
so  that  this  Argus  and  Jupiter  were  indeed  contemporaries; 
though  Argus  was  not  descended  from  him.  We  must  expect 
to  meet  some  seeming  contrarieties  in  the  genealogies  of  these 
times.^   But  whoever  will  search  may  find  such  a  concurrence 

2  Hygin.  Fab.  155.  3  ApoUodor.  Blblioth.  lib.  ii,  c.  1,  sec.  2, 

•*  Vid.  Castor,  in  Euseb.  Chronic. 

5  For  the  first  year  of  Inachus's  reign  was  A.  M.  2154.    See  vol.  ii,  book  vi, 
e  Vid.  Pausan.  in  Corinthiac.  c.  22,  c.  34.  '  Apoliod.  iibi  sup. 

8  Ovid.  Metam.  lib.  i,  ver.  624-     Arestoridje  servandam  tradidit  Argo. 

9  Pausan.  in  Corinth,  c.  16.  i  Id.  c.  34, 
2  Apollodor.  Blblioth.  lib.  ii,  c.  1. 

•''  Pausan.  in  Corinth,  c.  16. 

4  Oi  ^tv  eft  E\Ki,vu,y  ?.iyt,t  J'lu.ifif.u  ru.  TTy.iiiiJ,  kui  k;^   hkit:/-  ert  <r:/c  y-vs^iv  un, 
P.iusan.  in  Arcadic.  c.  53. 


70  SACRED  AND  PROFANE  BOOK  X. 

in  the  accounts  of  so  many  different  families,  for  the  placing 
Jupiter  where  we  have  supposed  him,  and  the  solution  is  so 
easy  of  most,  if  not  of  all,  that  can  be  offered  to  contradict  it, 
that  if  this  of  Argus  or  any  other  single  instance  could  not  be 
clearly  refuted,  yet  it  would  not  weigh  against  the  number 
that  agrees  to  it. 

When  Jupiter  succeeded  his  father  in  his  kingdom,  he  found 
his  people  in  some  measure  disposed  for  civil  life.  Saturn  had 
reduced  them  to  some  regularity,  both  of  diet  and  manners.* 
Rites  of  religious  worship  were  instituted,  and  rules  thought 
of  to  promote  the  peace  of  society.''  Care  had  been  taken  to 
form  their  language  and  their  sentiments;^  by  which  means 
a  sense  of  duty  to  their  gods,  and  a  good  understanding,  and 
spirit  of  justice  and  integrity  were  promoted  amongst  them 
towards  one  another.^  All  this  Saturn  had  done,  not  by  rigour 
of  power  and  compulsion,  not  by  laws  established  with  penal 
sanctions,^  without  magistrates  to  enforce  his  dictates,'  or  to 
execute  vengeance  upon  or  restrain  offenders.  He  had  trained 
them  to  a  simplicity  of  manners;  and  they  were  led  by  the 
influence  and  authority  of  his  direction  only  to  pursue  and 
practise  what  he  dictated  for  the  public  good.^  And  the  great 
peace  and  quiet,  ease  and  content  in  which  they  lived,  sensi- 
ble of  no  wants,  but  what  they  had  a  supply  for,  induced  pos- 
terity to  call  their  times  the  golden  age.^  When  Jupiter  be- 
came king,  he  brought  in  a  new  scene  of  life  and  action.  He 
taught  his  people  to  build  houses  ;■*  to  gather  corn,  which  un- 
til then  had  grown  wild  among  the  other  fruits  of  the  earth,* 

5  Tuf  »«3-  iAvliv  at-Qgi'TTKc  f|  Ay^ta  StcWDfc  u;  Qcv  nfxipov  fji(^nTX(Tdn.  Dlodorus  Sic. 
lib.  V,  c   66. 

"    MUMTilAt  KUJ  BuTtiC  X.3J  BiffJiiSi    T8?  Vlpi  TUsV  BiCCI  ilTiyHT-Ha-boU,  iLdil    Tit  CT£^/  T»V  K/VC- 

/^/av  xju  iif'Uvm  Ku.T:tS'u^-u,     Id.  ibid. 

"^  hoytT/xit^  ivjAif,  itrtt  T*c  Toiv  o'ioy.:naiv  Bi^ii.     Id.  c.  67. 

6  Eia-iiyn^ru^Bxt  a.?r-x7i  t»vt«  ^ix-nioa-w^v,  km  tuv  aarxorMTit  tx;  •^-"/t''^'    ^^-  *-•  ^^■ 
^  Sponte  sua  sine  lege  fidem  rectumque  colcbat, 

Poena  metusque  aberant ;  nee  vincla  minantia  ferro 

JEre  ligabantur 

OriD,  Metam. 

>  nee  supplex  turba  timebat 

Judicis  ora  sui,  sed  crant  sine  judice  tuti. 

Id.  ibid. 

2  AiA  T);v  TtepC'jMv  T«c  iwofxl^z,  nI'iioiix-J.  ij.iv  fxiifiv  Wi<4-c  UTO  fxxiivoi  <ru»T6Xa3'S«<,  TTStynt: 

Si  T8C    UTTO    TXV    HyHfACHSLV  TKTK  TiTHyfXiVXi    fAAX.1t^lrjV   C/CV    (^m(\l:U,  irA7)t(  ufiVHC    MifXTra- 

(T/r^ec  rtT5>.«uM7ctc.     niodor.  Sic.  lib.  v,  c.  66. 

3  Ovid.  Metam.;   Hesiod.  E^>.  x-z<  H^s/i.    Diodor,  ubi  sup. 
*  Uttv  oiKiav  Kxldi<rKiu»v  ivpuv.    Diodor, 

Turn  primiim  subiere  domos,  domus  antra  fucrunt, 
Et  densi  frutlces,  et  junctx  cortice  virgx. 

'id.  ibid. 

"  Diodor.  lib.  v,  c.  66.     In  Saturn's  days, 

Contenti  cibls  nuUo  cogente  creatis, 
Arbuteos  t'octiis  montanaciue  fraga  legcbant, 
Cornaque,  et  in  diiris  iirercntia  mora  rubctis, 
Et  qiiK  deciderant  patula  Jovis  arbore  glandcs  .  .  . 

Otii). 


BOOK  X.  HISTORY  CONNECTED.  71 

and  to  preserve  and  use  it  for  food,  and  afterwards  to  sow 
and  reap  it  in  its  season.^  He  introduced  a  sense  of  property, 
appointed  magistrates  to  dispense  justice,  and  directed  his 
subjects  to  bring  their  differences  and  disputes  before  them, 
and  to  submit  to  their  determinations.^  Under  his  encourage- 
ment, the  arts  of  working  divers  sorts  of  metals  were  attempt- 
ed;^ arms  were  invented  for  a  soldiery,  and  men  w"ere  trained 
and  disciplined  for  war.^  Shooting  with  the  bow  was  much 
practised  ;^  improvements  were  made  in  navigation  f  and  en- 
deavours used  for  taming  and  managing  of  horses.^  Rules 
were  agreed  upon  for  nursing  and  educating  children;''  music 
and  physic  were  considerably  advanced;^  and  decent  rites  ap- 
pointed for  the  funerals  of  the  dead.^  Thus  by  a  variety  of 
useful  designs  he  was  adding  strength  and  beauty,  ornament 
and  politeness  to  his  kingdom  ;  for  the  increase  of  which  he 
in  the  next  place  attempted  a  correspondence  with  foreign 
states;  to  which  end  he  assigned  to  one  of  his  sons  the  office 
of  embassies,  and  made  him  his  herald  to  proclaim  peace  or 
war,  and  to  conduct  his  treaties  and  alliances  with  the  neigh- 
bouring kingdoms.'  By  these  arts,  Jupiter  endeavoured'  to 
cultivate  his  people  ;  though  we  must  not  imagine  that  any  of 
them  were  in  his  time  carried  up  to  perfection,  like  what  they 
were  brought  to  in  after-ages;  nor  that  so  many  and  such 
divers  designs  could  be  set  on  foot  by  him  at  once.  The  per- 
sons recorded  as  his  assistants,  and  who  presided  in  their  re- 
spective provinces  over  the  designs  committed  to  their  man- 
agement, were  Neptune  and  Pluto  his  brothers,  Juno  his 
wife,  Vesta  and  Ceres  his  sisters,  Vulcan,  Mars,  Apollo, 
Mercury,  Venus,  Diana,  and  Minerva  his  children,^  and  after- 


Diodor.  ubi  sup. 

Semina  turn  primum  longis  Cerealia  sulcis 

Obruta  sunt 

Ovid. 
'  Xlfcerov  [aiv  ya.f  tfrrnvTiev  kathS^h^cii  vift  -rmv  aS'iMfxtt'Taiv  to  Sihmcv  uxkhmic  iiiivcii 
TK  AvS-zianrBc,  -am  n  Cut  ti  Trpctrlm  otTorxcra/  Kpia-u  ii  nai  tT/xas-xf/ai  Tcts  a.fji.ipia-GxT»<riir: 
tS'ta.Kvuv. — Diod.  lib.  V,  c.  71. 

8  Aiyn^riv  iupirttv  y^voj-^at  td?  isrifit  tov  a-tfiipov  ipy±rittg  itTraa-ti;  >uti  txc  ts^pt  tsc  ya.hKc^ 
KM  XP"'^"'''  "*'  dpyvpov,  KM  Tuv  a.KKce)i  co-a  tuv  as.  ra  TTvpos  tpyAtrtttv  iTtiiiyyrM.  Diodor. 
iib.  V,  c.  74. 

^  ri/iaiTov  Kctrna-Ktvua-ttt  ■^AVoTrxictv,  khi  ^pixTicurd.;  x.xd'ovxia-a.i,  kui  txv  sv  tui;  fjatyan 
ivctymtav  tuipyita.v  us-nyneta-d^su      Id    ibid. 

'  'EvpirnvSi  KM  m  rc^n  yivo/uitvov  Ma^tii  th;  iy^upiisc  tu  Tsripi  tjjv  Ti^iuv.  Id.  ibid. 
c.  69. 

2  TlpceTov  Xpyi^Aa-5-M  nti^x.cila.^etxa.a-yuv  ipyuuiit;.     Id. 

3  Upoa-ctTriavf  Si  uuree  km  to  tkj  iTTTra;  Stt/jt-niTM  .sr/iaiToy.     Ibid. 

■•    EupitV  TUV  TCeV  VHTTlaV   TTmSiU'V  bipdLTTitXV.        C.  73. 

^  Tm  KiQapcit  ivpiTm  nyctyopivus-i,  km  tk  kh.t'  authv  fAna-iiui;'  st/  efs  Tm  ictTpiKHv  ifrt^TifAiy 
t'^iViyKiiv.     Ibid.  c.  74. 

fi  AeyiTM  TU.  TTipt  Tn;  Tttipa.;  km  Tstf  ac?o/)*c  kiU  TifJtui  tuv  TeSvsajTW  kathJh^m,  tcv 
Trpo  TK  ^ovov,  (J-ifhuixi  an;  tvifjiiKii^t  Tnpt  ttuTuc.     Ibid. 

'  T*  KUt  tsr^oa-HTfliifn  t«c  ey  tok  TroKe/i^ot;  ytvof^svac  imKupvKiM;  km  4tu>j.dyctg  xy« 
(TTsroviu^.    Diodor.  Sic.  lib.  v,  c.  75.  8  y,  c.  69,  70,  &c. 


72  SACRED  AND  PROFANE         BOOK  X. 

wards  Bacchus  became  the  author  of  inventions,  which  caused 
his  name  to  be  added  to  theni.^  Jupiter  must  have  been  of 
years  of  muturity,  before  he  could  be  ripe  for  forming  such  a 
kingdom  as  he  projected ;  and  consequently  his  children  must 
be  grown  up  for  the  employment  he  designed  them.  We 
must  suppose  that  he  did  not  assign  them  their  provinces, 
and  consequently  that  the  arts,  of  which  they  were  the  direc- 
tors, were  not  remarkably  advanced,  until  they  were  of  age 
to  cultivate  and  conduct  them ;  and  if  we  examine,  we  shall 
find,  that  a  due  time  for  all  these  particulars  may  be  very  well 
pointed  out  in  the  term  of  Jupiter's  life,  as  we  have  above 
settled  it.  Pluto,  one  of  Jupuer's  brothers,  was  appointed  not 
only  to  direct  what  rites  and  ceremonies  should  be  used  at 
funerals,  but  also  to  declare  what  honours  should  be  paid  to 
persons  deceased,^  in  order  to  convey  their  names,  according 
to  their  deserts,  down  to  posterity.  And  as  Jupiter  took  care 
himself  to  settle  the  measure  of  his  own  fame,^  and  of  the 
illustrious^  persons  engaged  with  him  in  the  execution  of  his 
designs,  as  well  as  to  determine  what  sort  of  honours  should 
be  decreed  to  those  who  came  after  them  ;'*  it  might  well  hap- 
pen, that  Jupiter  and  his  associates  should  come  down  to  after- 
ages  in  a  degree  of  honour  higher  than  what  any  who  lived 
after  them  could  attain  to,  or  than  what  would  be  given  to  any 
of  his  ancestors  or  other  contemporaries ;  he  having  thus  set- 
tled both  his  own  and  their  fame  in  such  manner  and  mea- 
sure, as  he  and  the  person  under  his  direction  thought  fit  to 
record  it.  From  hence  it  might  happen,  that  when  the  an- 
cient Greek  heroes  came  to  be  reputed  gods,  twelve  only 
attained  the  highest  honours.  They  had  their  one  common 
altar  at  Athens,*  and  it  was  usual  to  swear  by  them.^  The 
Romans  called  them  the  Di  coiisentcs,^  which  word  is  sup- 
posed to  mean  the  same  as  consentientes,  and  to  intimate  that 
these  gods  consulted  and  agreed  together  about  what  was  to 
be  done,  and  so,  as  has  been  hinted,  the  twelve  Cretan  wor- 
thies did  about  their  public  institutions.  The  Cretan  worthies 
above-mentioned  were  six  men  and  six  women ;  and  thus  the 
Di  consejites  were  generally  distinguished,  as    Varro    sug- 


9  Aiovyirov  Si  /uiv^cxoyvriv  ivfitnv  yivard-m  t«?  K,ua-6X8  x«/  'r;fc  m^i  tu-jthv  ifyete-uK,  fu 

ta;  Tfc?=(c  vuii^ia^m  to/c  nv^px-TroK  i^i  ttckw  y/jcvov.     Id.  C.  75. 

1  AiyiTdi  rt/uu;  Ta>»  Tidvianecv  imlu^u^aj.     Diod.  lib.  v,  c.  69. 

2  Vid  Diodor.  c.  69. 

3  Eund.  ibid. 

*  Tov  nv  A/a  xtyiTUt  ts/c  «§iro/c  Tav  ts  &iav  km  upaav,  st<  cfe  uvJpuy  Totf  «|/af  oLTroyu- 
^a/ T/^ac,  &.C.    Diod    c.71. 

5  ritpi  Tcev  Ca,Mcv  tov  SctJacu.  ^lav.     Plut.  in  Is  icla,  p.  531. 

6  Ua  THi  SctSiK-z  ^us.     Aristoph. 

'  Et  qiioniuni  (ut  .liiint)  Dei  f'ac'entes  .idjuvant,  prius  invocabo  eos:  nee 
ut  llomeruset  Ennius,  Musas,  sed  xii  Deos  conscntcs.  Varro  de  He  Rustica. 
lib.  i.  c.  1. 


»00K  X.  HISTORY  CONNECTED.  73 

gests.^  Ennius  has  put  the  names  of  the  twelve  Dt  consentes 
into  the  following  distich, 

Juno,  Vesta,  Minerva,  Ceres,  Diana,  Venus,  Mars, 
Mercurius.  Jovis,  Neplunus,  Vulcanus,  Apollo. 

And  these  are  the  very  names  of  the  twelve  illustrious  per- 
sons, by  whose  joint  endeavours  tlie  ancient  Cretan^  polity 
was  formed.  They  were  enrolled  with,  and  subordinate  to 
.Tupiter  their  president,  in  the  roll  of  fame,  settled  for  him  and 
them  in  the  age  when  they  lived ;  and  hence  it  came  to  pass, 
that  when  he,  in  after-ages,  came  to  have  divine  honours  paid 
to  him,  they  also,  next  to  him,  were  revered  above  other 
deities. 

We  must  not  suppose  that  Jupiter  found  a  ready  and  uni- 
versal concurrence  of  all  the  Cretans  to  submit  to  his  institu- 
tions. Undoubtedly  he  met  with  many  oppositions,  though 
in  time  he  surmounted  all ;  which,  I  think,  we  may  well  sup- 
pose, from  the  character  of  his  times  handed  down  to  us.  He 
was  at  the  head  of  only  the  silver  age.^  The  commotions, 
which  were  in  his  days,  give  the  poets  a  pretence  to  paint,  in 
the  best  of  colours,  the  great  peace  of  his  father's  reign,  when 
wars  and  fightings^  were  not  heard  of;  and  to  say  of  Jupiter's 
times,  that  the  former  day s  were  better,  though  they  did  not 
judge  wisely  concerning  this  matter?  After-ages  felt  still 
greater  troubles ;  so  that  Jupiter's  times  were  happier  than 
•what  followed,"*  though  they  were  not  thought  to  be  without 
alloy.  The  ancient  writers  hint,  that  many  of  the  descendants 
of  his  ancestors  lived  under  his  government,  or  were  in  alli- 
ance with  him.  The  Curetes,  who  were  descended  from  his 
grandfather's  brother,*  lived  with  their  families  in  his  king- 
dom. Their  dwellings  were  in  groves  and  shady  valleys; 
they  were  shepherds  and  managers  of  cattle.^  He  had  part 
of  his  education  among  them,^  and  we  may  suppose  them 
well  affected  to  him,  and  ready  to  support  him  with  all  their 


8  — Eos  urbanos,  quorum  imagines  ad  forum  auraf^  stant,  sex  mares  et 
I'oeminx  totidem. — Id.  ibid. 

9  For  Juno  is  the  person,  whom  Diodorus  calls  EMH^u<av  S*  xaCuv  Twsnft  tuc 
■Ttumritg  iTTifM/.iictv.  Uiodor.  c.  73;  Juno  Lucina,  feropem;  Ter.  in  Andria. 
Act  lii,  Seen.  1. 

»  Sub  Jove  mundus  erat,  sublitque  argentea  proles. 

Ovid.  Metam. 

-  In  Saturn's  reign, 

Non  tuba  dlrecti,  non  xris  cornua  flesi, 

Non  galea;,  non  ensis  erot,  sine  mi  litis  usu 

MoUia  secura;  peragebant  otia  gentes. 

Ovid,  Met. 
3  Eccles.  vii,  10. 

■*  Though  Jupiter's  age  was  thought  to  be  auro  deterior,  yet  it  was  fuho 
preliosiov  are.     Ovid,  ubi  sup. 

5  Diodor.  lib.  iii,  c.  61.  6  Id.  lib.  v,  c.  65. 

'  Id.  c.  70  ;  ApoUod.  Bibl.  lib,  i,  c.  1,  sec.  3. 

Vol.  hi.  K 


74  SACRED  AND  PROFANE         BOOK  X. 

influence  and  strength  in  executing  the  designs,  for  which 
they  in  some  measure  had  perhaps  formed  him.^  The  Centi- 
mani  lived,  as  I  have  observed,  in  Tartarus.^  They  v^^ere  in 
alliance  with  Jupiter;  for  he  sent  his  captives  in  war  to  them, 
and  they  sent  him  out'  of  their  dominions  such  persons  as  he 
might  want  or  could  be  of  service  to  him.  The  Cyclops  were 
his  artificers,  and  made  him  armour  and  instruments  of  war 
for  his  soldiery.^  The  only  considerable  families  that  opposed 
him,  were  the  Titans,  who  were  brothers  of  his  father  Saturn,' 
and  their  dependants,  and  the  children  of  Ops,  who  were  the 
giants  of  their  age  and  country.''  With  the  Titans,  we  are 
told,  he  had  a  ten  years'  war  ;^  but  that  at  length  he  took 
them  prisoners,  and  sent  them  to  Tartarus.^  Diodorus  Siculus 
gives  an  excellent  character  of  these  men  ;^  and  Homer  feigns 
that  they  had  become  the  gods  of  the  country*  into  which 
they  were  sent  as  captives.  Pausanias  indeed  remarks,  that 
Homer  was  the  first  who  said  this  of  them  f  but  probably  he 
might  be  led  to  it  by  some  opinion  of  their  having  been  use- 
ful persons  in  the  place  where  they  lived,  agreeable  to  what 
Diodorus  afterwards  thought  of  them.  When  the  Titans  were 
no  longer  able  to  head  the  opposition,  Jupiter  soon  composed 
matters  with  their  children.  He  married  several  of  their 
daughters;  and  their  sons  removed  out  of  Crete,  and  planted 
kingdoms  in  other  lands.  With  the  giants  Jupiter  had  several 
engagements.  These  men  would  not  be  tied  down  to  any 
social  laws;  they  took  for  their  subsistence  what  the  earth 
afforded,  wherever  they  could  find  it,  and  the  improvements 
made  in  Jupiter's  dominions  invited  them  to  frequent  incur- 
sions, to  plunder  the  inhabitants.  They  would  come  under  no 
direction  of  Jupiter's  appointments  for  the  preservation  of 
property,  but  took  away  from  those  who  lived  near  their 
dwellings  whatever  they  had  a  mind  for;'  so  that  there  could 
be  no  public  safety  until  a  stop  could  be  put  to  this  licentious- 


8  The  pastoral  life  was  in  high  esteem  in  the  early  times;  and  it  was  not 
thought  foreign  to  the  education  of  a  prince,  for  him  t"  be  in  some  measure  ac- 
quainted with  the  arts  of  it.    Xenoplioii  savs,  nagscTAJxrw  tpyct  ttvcu  vcjuut;  ayct^i'it 

auTW,  T0VT6   Qu.7lKiX   ui^Avlcti;   tuS'a.ty.i.ya.;  TriKUi  nui   uvdcwT^j;  TCin'/ju.  ^HT^xt   avTil;. 
Xenoph.  de  Inststut.  Cyn,  lib.  viii. 

9  Vid.  quae  sup.       '  '  Apoll.  lib.  i,  c.  2.  -  Ibid. 
3  Diodor.  lib.  v^c.  66;  Apoll.  lib.  i.        4  Apoll.  lib.  i,  c.  6. 

5  Apoll.  lib.  i,  c.  2.  6  Ihid. 

' m  tKtt^-iv  TtMm  iupimv    -yeti^dui   tsi?  av^fa'Troi;.     K^t  Sta.    tuv   ac 

(/■arxvlxc  iu(f,yto-i:t.y  'rv^^w  Tif-ictv  k-m  fjt.niJi.tii  aewstK.     Diordor.  lib,  v,  c.  66. 

"^  ©SKC  <r'  aniny^a-iv  eLTnulut 

la;  uyroTUfrnfixi,  a  Tnm(!  Ksu.uvTeu 

li.  ^,  ver.  279. 

"  TtTSVu;  ii  ts'pano!  w  vhhj-iv  (Txyayiv  O//))f0f  fisuf  uvxi  «•««{  u-vro  t*  icaxiijuiyei) 
TafTa/Jo;.     I'ausan.  in  Arcad.  c.  37. 

'  2a]//aTic  MTnfayjjiii  xat  pa/uauc  Tn^ct^orui  KsLriiJ'isMa-Sfiu  /ua  TrKna-to^ctfn;, 
ArriiSruY  ii  tv  ^ikm^  riiifjuvu:  ys^sif.     Diod.  lib.  v,  c,  71. 


BOOK  X.  HISTORY  CONKECTED.  73 

ness,  which  in  a  little  time  was  effected  by  the  death  of  these 
men,  who  were  all  slain  by  Jupiter  and  his  associates.^ 

When  Jupiter  had  settled  his  affairs  in  Crete,  he  and  his 
worthies  obtained  for  themselves  great  fame  in  foreign  lands. 
Diodorus  says,  they  travelled  over  almost  the  whole  world  ;^ 
but  their  visiting  the  cities  and  states  of  Greece  was  enough 
to  cause  this  report  of  them.  There  were  several  kingdoms 
growing  up  in  these  countries  at  this  time;  but  the  political 
arts  were  here  only  in  their  infancy;  and  so  great  a  master  of 
them  as  Jupiter,  from  what  has  been  said  of  him,  must  appear 
to  have  been,  may  very  well  be  supposed  to  be  capable  of 
instructing  others  in  many  points  conducive  to  their  public 
welfare.  He  and  his  agents  were  at  all  times  ready  to  assist, 
with  their  persons  or  advice,  any  kingdom  which  thought  fit 
to  apply  to  them;  and  they  always  acquitted  themselves  so 
honourably  to  the  several  states  which  had  made  them  appli- 
cation, and  wei-e  so  signally  useful  and  beneficial  to  them,  that 
a  great  sense  of  the  good  they  had  done  went  down  to  pos- 
terity; and  in  after-ages,  when  they  were  deified,  each  city 
took  for  its  tutelar  divinity  some  one  of  these  Cretans,  him  or 
her,  to  whom  their  ancestors  had  been  obliged  in  this  manner. 
This  is  what  Apollodorus  suggests,  who  says,  the  gods  chose 
their  cities,  in  which  each  was  to  have  their  particular 
honours;^  thus  Minerva  became  the  deity  of  the  Athenians,^ 
Juno  of  Samos,^  and  others  the  gods  of  other  cities.  I  would 
observe,  that  the  time  which  Apollodorus  fixes  for  this  choice 
of  their  favourite  cities,  suits  exactly  with  the  age  in  which 
we  place  Jupiter.  He  says,  it  was  in  the  days  of  Cecrops,' 
probably  a  little  before  his  death,  about  A.  M.  2472.^  Nep- 
tune and  Minerva  went  at  this  time  to  Attica;  but  they  dif- 
fered when  they  came  there  in  their  advice  to  the  Athenians. 
Neptune  thought  their  situation  ought  to  direct  them  to  sea 
affairs ;  Minerva  was  for  having  them  lay  the  foundation  of 
their  prosperity  upon  other  arts.  We  are  told  that  Neptune 
and  Minerva  were  so  warm  in  this  contest,  that  Jupiter  came 
over  to  decide  it;^  and  that  JNIinerva's  advice  was  at  length 
agreed  to  be  taken,  and  thus  Athens  came  to  be  reputed  her 
city.*  Mars  at  this  time  was  probably  amongst  other  attend- 
ants upon  Jupiter;  as  Halirrothius  the  son  of  Neptune  might 
come  with  his  father.  Agraulos,  one  of  the  daughters  of  Ce- 
crops,  was  given  to  Mars  to  be  his  wife ;  but  Halirrothius  at- 
tempted to  force  her,  upon  which  Mars  killed  him;^  and  for 
this  crime  Mars  was  tried  in  the  court  of  Areopagus,  A.  M. 

2  ApoUod.  Blblioth.  lib.  i.  c.  6. 

^  'ETrihQitv  TMV   oiKnuiynv  <r)(iS'r^v  OLTrta-mt      Diod.  lib.  v,  c.  71. 

*  EcTt^e  to;;  Stwc  ttoXhc  Kct]xK^&(r(iM,  ev  oil;  if/.iKXoy  iy}iv  rifjidLi  iS'ia.;  axar^f- 
Apoiiicl.  lib.  iii,  c.  13. 

5  Id.  ibid. ;  Plutarch.  Sympos.  lib.  ix,  Qu.  6. 

6  Plutarch,  ibid.  "  ^  ApoU.  ubi  sup. 

*  Cecrops  died  A.  M.  2473  ;  see  vol.  ii,  b,  viii.  ^  Ajjollod.  ubi.  sup. 
'  ApoU.  ubi  sup.  -  ApoUod.  ibid. 


76  SACRED  AND  PROFANE         LOOK  X. 

2473.^  Thus  as  to  time,  the  several  hints  we  have  of  the 
lives  and  actions  of  these  men  do  perfectly  well  agree  with 
what  is  above  fixed  for  their  epoch. 

About  the  year  of  the  world  2476,  Jupiter,  as  has  been  be- 
fore hinted,  made  an  expedition  into  Arcadia  where  Lycaou 
was  king,  a  prince  of  some  fame,  and  surrounded  with  a  nu- 
merous offspring,'*  but  of  most  savage  manners,  and  shed 
human  blood  at  his  sacrifices.*  He  received  Jupiter  with  an 
appearance  of  hospitality;  but  at  the  entertainment,  the  body 
of  a  child  was  served  up  to  the  table.^  Jupiter,  moved  at  the 
sight  of  such  a  preparation,  with  the  help  of  his  attendants  at- 
tacked Lycaon,^  who  is  said  to  have  been  turned  into  a  wolf  ;^ 
and  some  learned  writers  have  imagined,  that  a  frantic  mad- 
ness seized  him,  and  that  he  died  of  a  distemper  which  might 
countenance  this  fiction.^  I  rather  think,  that  he  fell  by  the 
hand  of  Jupiter;^  and  that  the  fable  of  his  being  turned  into  a 
wolf  was  invented  ages  after  his  death.  By  a  hint  we  have  in 
Pausanias,  it  seems  as  if  the  Arcadians  did  not  leave  off  their 
barbarous  custom  of  eating  human  flesh,  at  the  death  of  Ly- 
caon;  for  he  tells  us  of  a  man,  some  years  after  Lycaon,  who 
was  turned  into  a  wolf  for  ten  years,  upon  his  partaking  of  a 
banquet  of  human  flesh;  and  adds,  that  if  in  that  ten  years  he 
had  not  entirely  abstained  from  such  food,  he  must  have  con- 
tinued a  wolf  all  his  life  after.2  Plato  treats  the  representation 
of  this  person  being  turned  into  a  wolf  as  a  fable,  and  moral- 
izes it  to  express  his  having  been  a  tyrant,  such  a  one  being 
indeed  as  a  wolf  to  his  people.^  In  length  of  time,  the  Arca- 
dians extinguished  from  among  their  people  the  savage  appe- 
tite above  mentioned;  and  perhaps  the  method  by  which  they 
reformed  them  was  by  an  annual  commemoration  of  the  bene- 
fits they  had  received  from  the  hands  of  Jupiter.  In  after- 
ages  they  erected  an  altar  to  him  by  the  name  of  Lyca^us, 
and  instituted  the  Lupercalia  to  his  honour;  and  when  they 
performed  the  services  appointed  at  this  solemnity,  perhaps 
the  barbarities  of  Lycaon,  and  of  some  other  person,  who  was 
afterwards  for  ten  years  not  unlike  him,  might  be  recited  to 
the  people  in  such  a  manner  as  to  occasion  the  fable,  which 
was  told  afterwards  respecting  both.  Pausanias,  as  well  as 
Apollodorus,  supposed  that  Jupiter  had  reall}'  been  a  deity  at 
the  time  of  these  transactions."  Pausanias  supposes  that  Ly- 
caon himself  had  at  this  time  been  a  worshipper  of  Jupiter, 


3  Id.  ibid.;   Marm,  Arundell  Ep.  3  ;  see  vol.  ii.  b.  viii. 

*  Pausan.  in  Arcadicis  ;  ApoUod.  IJiblioth.  lib-  iii,  c.  8. 

*  Id.  ibd.  <>   Pausan.  in  Arcad.;  Apoll.  ibid, 
T  Apoll.  ubi  sup.                                         8  Pausan   ubi  sup. 

9  The  learned  writers,  who  were  of  this  opinion,  are  cited  by  the  late  Lord 
Bish')p  of  Durham,  in  his  most  excellent  Vindication  of  his  Defence  of  Chris- 
tianity, p.  25. 

1  Vld.  ApoUod.  2  Pausan.  in  Arcadicis.  c  2. 

«  Pl.ito  de  Repub.  lib.  viii,  p.  724. 

*  Pausan.  m  Arcadic,;  ApoUod.  Biblioth,  lib.  iii,  c.  8 


BOOK  X.  HISTORY  CONNECTED.  77 

that  he  had  dedicated  the  altar,  and  instituted  the  Lupercalia.* 
But  the  Marble  suggests  a  more  probable  time  for  the  rise  both 
of  the  games  and  altar;  namely,  in  the  reign  of  Pandion  the 
son  of  the  second  Cecrops,  who  was  king  of  Athens  above  two 
hundred  years  after  the  time  of  Lycaon.*"  Pausanias  and  Apol- 
lodorus  had  neither  of  them  formed  a  true  judgment  of  the 
progress  of  the  heathen  idolatries;  nor  were  they  apprised, 
that  the  Greeks  did  not  worship  hero-gods  in  these  ages;  but 
that  the  elements  and  lights  of  heaven  were  at  this  time  the 
objects  of  their  devotion.''  Jupiter  himself  paid  his  worship 
to  these  gods;  and  offered  his  sacrifices  to  the  sun,  to  the 
heaven,  and  to  the  earth;*  so  that  it  must  be  impossible,  that 
whilst  Jupiter  was  alive,  and  known  to  be  but  a  mortal  man, 
and  was  himself  a  worshipper  of  divinities  of  a  superior  nature, 
any  king  or  people  whatever  could  think  him  a  god,  and  erect 
altars  and  offer  sacrifices  to  him.  We  cannot  at  this  distance 
of  time  form  any  certain  judgment  of  the  then  state  of  the 
Arcadians:  but  from  the  stay  which  Jupiter  made  in  this 
country,  from  the  apparent  good  understanding  between  him 
and  Lycaon's  children,  and  from  the  honour  which  the  Ar- 
cadians paid  to  his  memory  in  after-ages,  we  may  justly  sup- 
pose, that  Lycaon's  cruelties  had  made  both  his  children  and 
subjects  weary  of  him ;  that  they  were  all  ripe  for  a  revolt, 
and  that  Jupiter  found  it  no  hard  matter  to  deliver  his  sub- 
jects out  of  his  hand,  and  settle  their  affairs  to  their  universal 
satisfaction.  Apollodorus  indeed  reports  that  all  the  sons  of 
Lycaon,  except  Nyctimus,  had  been  killed  by  Jupiter;^  but 
from  Pausanias  this  appears  not  to  have  been  fact ;  for  after 
Lycaon's  death  they  separated  ir.to  divers  parts  of  the  country, 
and  built  each  his  city,  except  Cenotrus,  who  went  away  with 
a  colony  into  Italy.^  Nyctimus  succeeded  Lycaon  in  his  king- 
dom ;2  and  Jupiter  stayed  some  time  with  him,  and  probably 
assisted  him  in  settling  his  affairs,  and  during  his  stay  courted 
Callistho  sister  of  Nyctimus,^  of  whom  was  born  Areas,  who, 
at  the  death  of  Nyctimus,  was  midc  king  of  Arcadia. "* 

Jupiter  and  his  whole  family  were  at  Thebes  in  Boeotia  at 
the  wedding  of  Cadmus.^  Jupiter  then  gave  Harmonia  to  Cad- 
mus, to  be  his  wife;  for  Harmonia  was  not  the  daughter  of 
Mars  and  Venus,  as  many  of  the  ancient  writers  suggest,*^  but 
the  daughter  of  Jupiter  and  sister  of  Dardanus.'^    Cadmus  mar- 


5  Ibid.  e  Marmor.  A  run  dell.  Ep.  18. 

'  ^aivavlocl  fxiv  oi  Trpanol  Tcev  avBfiaTrav  'Sripi  rnv  ExAaccTa  TiiTuc  /uovv;  flsac  tiyiKrBxt, 
ma-'Tsip  rj)i  tiokku  tsjv  Ba/i£a:/>*v,  «A/5V,  ;cai  Tihuvnv,  kh  ym  xat  artm,  Kat  apaviV. 
Plat.  n\  Cratylo. 

8  ri/n  (Ts  TDC  fiax.»(  "irpog  t«?  ytyavlxc  Taf  (v  Kpurn,  Xtyirai  tov  £da  8va-at  »\Ki)  Km 
vp^voD  K-xi  yyi,     Dio>.lor.  lib.  v,  c.  71. 

9  Apollod.  ubi  sup.  i  Pausan.  in  Arcad. 

-  Ibid.  3  Ibid,  4  Pausan.  et  Apollod, 

5  Apollod.  lib.  iii,  c.  4. 

6  Id.  ibid.  sec.  2 ;  Pausan.  in  Boeot,  c.  5;  Hygin.  Fab.  148. 
•  Vid.  Diod.  Sic.  lib.  v,  c.  48, 


78  SACRED  AND  PROFANE         BOOK  X. 

ried  about  eight  years  after  he  came  to  Thebes;^  so  that  his 
wedding  was  celebrated  about  A.  M.  2494;  in  which  year 
therefore  Jupiter  and  his  Cretan  worthies  made  him  this  visit. 
About  one  or  two  and  twenty  years  after,  when  Semele,  who 
was  born  of  this  marriage,  was  grown  up,  Jupiter  came  to 
Thebes  again,  and  grew  enamoured  with  Semele.  The  my- 
thologists  say  of  Semele,  that  she  wished  to  find  Jupiter's 
embraces  such  as  Juno  had  experienced  them.^  Semele  was 
very  young  when  Jupiter  addressed  her;  but  Jupiter  was 
above  ninety  years  old.^  Semele  might  not  be  fond  of  the 
disparity  of  his  years;  but  would  have  liked  him  better,  if  he 
had  been  no  older  than  when  he  married  Juno.  However,  she 
was  with  child  by  him,  and  probably  died  of  hard  labour  at 
the  birth  of  Bacchus;  and  her  being  thus  lost,  and  the  child 
preserved,  added  to  some  such  story  as  I  have  suggested, 
about  the  difference  between  her  age  and  Jupiter's,  was 
ground  enough  for  the  mythologists  to  invent  all  they  offer 
about  the  death  of  Semele,  and  the  birth  of  the  Grecian  Bac- 
chus.2 

We  are  not  told  how  long  Jupiter  lived,  nor  who  succeeded 
him  in  his  Cretan  dominions ;  and  I  am  apt  to  think,  that 
when  he  died,  no  one  person  became  king  of  the  whole  is- 
land. The  brazen  age  came  next  after  the  silver  times  of  Ju- 
piter ;^  an  age  of  great  wars  and  commotions  in  the  then  known 
world. ^  Colonies  about  this  time  marched  from  many  coun- 
tries to  find  settlements;  and  Crete  seems  to  have  been  in- 
vaded by  some  of  them,*  and  not  united  again  under  one  head 
until  the  days  of  Minos. ^  And  the  unsettled  state  the  island 
might  come  into  by  this  new  scene,  might  occasion  a  failure 
of  its  history  as  to  the  death  of  Jupiter,  and  the  illustrious 
persons  who  had  acted  with  l;im ;  though  the  records  of  their 
great  exploits,  settled  before  their  deaths,  might  come  down 
to  all  posterity.  After-ages  took  Jupiter  for  a  god,  nay  for 
the  supreme  God  of  both  Heaven  and  Earth;"  and  when 
these  notions  of  him  took  place,  whatever  memoirs  there 
might  have  been  found  of  his  liaving  once  been  a  mere  man, 
would  of  course  be  disregarded,  and  in  time  lost.  The  Cre- 
tans pretended,  that  they  had  in  their  country  the  tomb  of 
Jupiter;^  but  Callimachus  thought  that  the  divinity  of  Jupitcv 

s  Vid  ApoUod.  lib  iii,  c  4. 
^  Vid.  Diodor.  Sic.  l^b.  iii,  c.  64. 

Qualem  Saturnia,  dixit, 

Te  solet  amplecti,  Veneris  cum  foedus  initis, 

Da  mllii  tc  talem 

Ovid.  Meta.m. 

»  Vid.  qvi?e  sup  2  Diodor.  ubi  sup. ;  Ovid.  Metam. 

3  IL-sioil.  E(:>   KiiH/Lifp Wh.i.  *  lliid. 

5  Dodor.  Sic.  lib    V,  C.80.  «  Ibid. 
^  Vid.  Hesiod    Homer,  ct  al. 

*  Creunsem,  Saturni  filitim,  cuju.s  in  ilia  insula  sepulchrum  ostenditur 
Cic.  de  Nat.  Deor.  lib.  iii,  c.  21. 


BOOK  X.  HISTORY  CONNECTED.  79 

was  a  sufficient  confutation  of  all  they  had  to  offer  about  it : 
he  says, 

Kfttjtii  atv  ■^cvg-jai'  xai  yap  -ta^ov,  w  ara,  tfjto 
Kf)i>itsi  etex-itjvav-jo'  av  S'  «  davei,  saai  yap  atst.® 

Whether  the  Cretans  had  really  such  a  monument  as  was  pre- 
tended, or  whether  what  the  Scholiast  writes  was  the  fact,  we 
cannot  say.  The  Scholiast  upon  Callimachus  remarks,  that 
the  inscription  of  the  monument  was  originally  MINiiOX  TOT 
AIOS  TA*02,  i.  e.  the  tomb  of  Minos  son  of  Jupiter;  that 
length  of  time  had  worn  out  the  word  MINQOS,  so  that  the 
remaining  part  was  only  TOT  aios  ta^os,  or  what  we  in 
English  should  render,  the  tomb  of  Jupiter,  and  that  the  un- 
observing  reader,  not  taking  notice  of  the  word,  which  time 
had  defaced,  took  it  for  Jupiter's  sepulchre,  when  it  was  only 
that  of  Minos,  \yho  had  the  honour  of  being  thought  to  be 
descended  from  him.^ 

If  we  consider  Jupiter's  politics,  we  must  allow  him  to 
have  been  a  man  of  as  great  natural  wisdom  and  sagacity  as 
perhaps  any  age  ever  produced.  His  father  Saturn  had  taken 
some  steps  towards  civilizing  the  people ;  in  whose  days,  the 
forming  a  language  and  introducing  a  method  of  reasoning 
was  made  a  science;^  and  undoubtedly  a  rational  foundation 
might  be  thus  laid  for  government  and  society.  Good  max- 
ims^ might  be  agreed  upon  for  a  right  way  of  thinking ;  or,  in 
other  words,  good  principles  instilled,  and  an  uninformed 
populace  led  insensibly  to  sentiments  conducive  to  peace  and 
good  order.  But  all  the  happiness  which  might  this  way  be 
promoted,  would  not,  without  farther  methods  to  establish 
and  support  it,  have  been  either  of  large  extent  or  long  con- 
tinuance. When  Saturn  opened  to  his  people  the  prospects  of 
the  golden  age,  the  scene  was  new,  a  scene  of  plenty  without 
trouble;  and  I  apprehend  there  could  be  no  great  difficulty  in 
leading  men  to  like  it.  He  reduced  them  from  a  sava2;e  to  a 
human  diet."* 


Sylvestres  homines 

Cxdibus  et  fosdo  victu  detewuit 


He  persuaded  them  not  to  eat  and  devour  one  another;  but 
to  live  in  peace  and  security,  and  enjoy  the  plenty,  which 


9  Callimach.  Hymn,  i,  in  Jovem.  v.  8. 
1  Vid.  Marsham.  Can.  Cliron.  p.  243. 

^  <tcccrt   Mv»|M<3(ruvnv  Myia-fAn;  (vpiiv,   kcci  tu;  tuv  ovcf/xraiy  6is-iis  nag-ai  Tmv  zyrav 
T«|a/.     Diodor.  Sic.  lib.  v,  c.  67. 

^  A/  yap  ct/xicrot  TrpoTxiriH  ap^at.     Al'istot.  Analyt.  post.  lib.  i,  c.  32. 
^  Ai'SpaiTrKf  i^  aypm  J'laiTHQ  w  Cm  ii/utspov  fxrvA^nacni.     Died.  c.  66. 
*  Korat.  lib.  de  Arte  Poetic, 


80  SACRED  AND  PROFANE  BOOK  X. 

from  the  living'"'  creatures,  and  the  natural  fruits  of  the  earth, 
their  island  would  afford  in  abundance  for  them  all.    But  this 
happiness  must  have  had  an  end.  As  their  numbers  increased, 
their  flocks  and  herds,  not  duly  managed,  would  have  failed; 
the  natural  produce  of  the  isle,  not  improved  by  tillage,  would 
have  been  eaten  up,  and  the  land  in  time  would  not  have  been 
sufficient  to  bear  them.  This  was  what  Jupiter  had  to  provide 
against,  and  in  order  to  it  he  settled  property,  introduced  arts, 
brought  his  people  to  be  willing  to  quit  the  ease  and  inac- 
tivity of  Saturn's  halc3on  days,  and  to  engage  in  a  variety  of 
cares  and  labours,  each  in  his  own  province,   that  improve- 
ments might  be  made,  a  plenty  produced  of  all  the  conve- 
niences of  life,  and  a  due  course  settled,  for  their  circulating 
in  a  proper  method  to  all  sorts  and  ranks  of  men.     Now  this 
was  a  scene  of  life,  which  though  reason  would  clearly  point 
to,  yet  argument  alone  would  not  have  been  able  to  maintain 
jigainst  opposers.     We  find,  that  when  the  limitations  of  pro- 
perty were  introduced  into  society,  the  astS^tj  and  xr^^a.i,,''  men, 
who  would  not   be  tied  down  to  them,   appeared   in  every 
country.    These  men  would  have  argued,  that  themselves  had 
natural  rights  to  the  common  life,  and  all  Saturn's  art  of  rea- 
soning and  persuading  might  not  have  prevailed  upon  them  to 
depart  from  it.     But  Jupiter  had  a  genius  for  business  as  well 
as  for  speculation ;  and  knew  how  both  to  project  what  was 
proper  to  be  agreed  upon,  and  to  give  his  schemes  full  effect 
among  the  people;  and  in  order  hereto,  1.  He  married  the 
lady,  who  had  the  province  of  forming  the  reasonings  of  the 
Cretans,^  which  undoubtedly  was  a  wise  step ;  for  hereby  he 
secured  himself,  that  nothing  should  proceed  from  her  art  to 
oppose  or  contradict  him  ;  rather  he  became  able  to  dispose 
all  her  influence  and  art  to  promote  the  purposes  which  he  in- 
tended.    2.  In  the  next  place,  he  gathered  a  soldiery,  and 
disciplined  them  for  war.^     He  provided   himself  power,  to 
give  weight  to  his  directions,  to  protect  all  that  would  come 
into  them,  and  to  discourage  and  suppress  those  that  might 
oppose  him.      3.  But  he  did  not  exercise  this  power  so  as  to 
render  himself  odious;  but  rather  gained  the  affections  of  his 
people  by  his  use  of  it.     He  appointed  msgistrates,  and  com- 

<  The  poets  imagine,  tlial  men  ate  no  flesh  in  their  golden  age  :  thus  Ovid, — 
At  vetus  ilia  xtas,  ciii  fecimus  aurea  nomen, 
Foetibus  arboreis,  et  quas  humus  cducat  herbis 
Fortunata  fuit,  nee  polluit  ora  crurore. 

jMktax. 
But  I  imagine,  that  this  was  not  true  of  the  days  of  Saturn.     The  heathen 
writers  found  memoirs  of  men's  having  anciently  lived  on  a  vegetable  diet; 
and  for  want  of  true  history  they  affirmed  of  many  subsequent  ages,  what  per- 
haps was  fact  only  until  the  days  of  Noah. 
7  Diodor.  Sic.  lib.  v. 

»  Diodor.  lib.  v,  c.  68  ;  ApoUodor.  Biblioth.  lib.  i,  c.  3 ;  Ilesiod.  -Je^jsv. 
0  Diodor.  c.  74. 


BOOK  X.  HISTORY  CONNECTED.  81 

municated  a  share  of  his  authority,  and  this  in  a  manner  so 
popular,  that  though  he  was  the  first  who  appears  in  this 
country  to  have  had  any  true  power  to  govern,  yet  he  obtained 
the  character  of  an  opposer  of  tyranny,  and  was  thought  not  to 
advance  the  prerogative  of  kings,  but  to  be  a  promoter  of  the 
liberties  of  the  people.^  4.  Jupiter  appointed  his  wife  Juno 
and  his  children  to  teach  the  several  arts  and  sciences  which 
were  necessary  for  the  improvement  of  his  people;  and  Dio- 
dorus  Siculus  has  recounted  to  us  the  several  provinces  which 
belonged  to  each  of  them.-  5.  His  brother  Neptune^  had  the 
care  ol  his  navy.  6.  Pluto  had  the  province  of  determining 
what  ceremonies  should  be  used  at  funerals,  and  what  honours 
should  be  decreed  to  dead  persons,  who  had  deserved  well 
of  the  public."  Thus  all  were  excited  to  endeavour  to  pro- 
mote the  public  welfare,  and  by  rewards  of  the  greatest  in- 
fluence over  the  most  active  spirits,*  and  the  most  likely  to 
raise  an  emulation,  to  support  the  government,^  rather  than 
be  the  means  of  enabling  any  to  weaken  and  undermme  it.  7. 
He  diligently  watched  over  and  severely  punished  every  at- 
tempt which  might  be  made  by  any  private  man,  to  disengage 
his  people  from  a  strict  adherence  to  the  public  institutions; 
and  therefore  made  an  example  of  the  unhappy  Prometheus, 
who  ventured  to  teach  men  the  arts  of  which  he  was  master, 
without  having  obtained  a  public  appointment  for  his  teaching 

them.  T       •     1  XT, 

I  am  sensible,  that  the  mythologists  have  so  disguised  the 
story  of  Prometheus,  by  their  manner  of  telling  it,  that  it  may 
be  thought  impossible  to  ascertain  what  was  in  fact  either  his 
crime  or  his  punishment.  But  let  us  examine  and  then  judge 
of  what  they  say  about  it.  Hyginus  relates,  that  before  Pro- 
metheus, men  were  wont  to  ask  for  fire  from  Heaven,  and  did 
not  know  how  to  keep  it  from  going  out,  when  they  had  it; 
that  Prometheus  brought  it  down  to  the  Earth  on  a  terula,^ 
and  taught  men  to  preserve  it  in  ashes ;  that  Mercury  here- 

1  ''E.irtK^iiv  Si  avTOV  Ml  t«v  omniumv  a-x^Jov  UTfcta-av ;<rciTHTa  Kai  tw  Suf^ox.- 

f^rriay  6,^«>«^£Vov.  Diodorus,  lib.  v,  c.  71.  Kgo,^  Si  ymf^mv  wov  Aia  tcv  tv«VT«v 
Ta,  xocT^i  Cm  ^xKaTxi,  ^«.t  7t<tpixo/^im  iaurov  ^aa-tv  iTraiM  Kctt  <ptKav^iOo7tov,  &C. 
Diodor.  lib.  ni,  c.  61. 

2  Diodor.  lib.  V.  ^^    ^  lb.d.  c.  69. 

4  Tov  Si  AShv,  XiyiTcct  rt/uxi  tw  Ti^ioiTm  KttaSit^M.  Ibid.  Toy  »v  A/« 
xs>«<r<  ^y,  f^ovov  afS,v  f|  uvQpc„rcv  apuvi^ai  iv;  ««C«c  xa«  !rov»f«?,  «AA«  x«/  to,; 
KPf^oii  Tm  avSpmv   Tac  a|tec  a^rovs/fta/   rlfAXt.     Id.  C.   71. 

5  0/  fxiv  «v  TTOKXot  oLvSfxTtoSmSil^  ifatvovlat  foo-K«^aTW  C/op  ^pocctp^/Aivol—oi  ii 
Xapiivhc  KCLt  irfaKliKoi  Tif^m.     Aristot.  de  Morib.  lib.  i,  c.  3- 

6  Vid.  Poivb.  Hist,  hb  vi,  c  4.  ,  .         ,  ^   .  .  ^ 

7  The  commentators  upon  the  Greek  poets  seem  to  have  thought  the  v«f9).?, 
or  ferula,  a  sort  of  tinder-box.  «r<  y=tp  ^upo;  ovla,;  <puKtiKltM?  c  vapQug;,  »jriccv  %*" 
uax«)coT«Ta  K^,  Tpcfu,  TO  TTvp,  K^i  ^«  uTTo^Cmvyu.,  SuvctfAiyw.  Procl.  ad  Hesioa. 
Fp>  Kit  Butp.  and  perhaps  Hyginus  wa>  of  this  opuuon.  He  says  that  lio- 
metheus,  after  he  had  got  the  fire,  Ixt.is  volare  non  currere  videretur,  ierulam 
jactans  ne  spiritus  interclusus  vaporis  extingueret  m  angustia  lumen,  l  oeiic. 
A.stronom.  c.  xv. 

Vol.  hi.  L 


8'/J  SACRED  AND  PROFANE         BOOK  X. 

upon,  at  the  command  of  Jupiter,  nailed  him  down  to  Cauca- 
sus, and  set  an  eagle  to  eat  his  heart,  which  grew  by  night  as 
the  eagle  eat  it  by  day;  that  after  thirty  years"  Hercules  killed 
the  eagle,  and  set  Prometheus  at  liberty.  Thus  Hyginus  re- 
lates the  fable  of  Prometheus;^  he  has  enlarged  it,  in  some 
circumstances,  in  his  astronomy.*  According  to  this  account, 
the  teaching  men  how  to  kindle  fire  seems  to  have  been  what 
Prometheus  was  famous  for;  and  this  opinion  may  seem  to  be 
countenanced  by  a  hint  of  Diodorus  Siculus;^^  by  the  account 
we  have  in  Pausanias  of  an  altar  erected  in  the  academy  at 
Athens;^  and  by  what  Plato  said  of  Prometheus."*  But  I  can- 
not think  this  was  the  fact;  for,  1.  The  ancient  Greek  mytho- 
logists,  and  those  who  copied  from  them,  tell  the  story  quite 
another  way  f  saying  that  he  made  men  and  animated  them 
with  fire.  2.  The  supposed  fact  upon  which  Hyginus's  fable 
depends,  was  not  true,  for  it  was  not  Prometheus,  but  Phoro- 
neus  who  first  taught  the  Greeks  to  kindle  fire.^  3.  The  altar 
at  Athens  mentioned  by  Pausanias  was  either  of  no  note,  very 
modern,  or,  more  probably,  what  was  said  of  it  in  Pausanias's 
time  relating  to  Prometheus,  was  not  true;  for  Lucian  is  ex- 
press, that  Prometheus  never  had  temple  or  altar  any  where 
dedicated  to  him.^  4.  What  Plato  says  of  Prometheus's 
giving  men  fire,  was  not  meant  in  the  literal  sense;  but  in 
allusion  to  the  Greek  fable  of  his  having  made  men.^  5.  If 
his  teaching  men  how  to  kindle  fire  had  been  the  fact  com- 
mitted by  him,  how  could  this  have  deserved  punishment? 
Lucian's  ridicule  of  this  notion  is  sufiicient  to  induce  any  one 
to  think,  that  the  ancients  could  never  have  imagined  a  man 
condemned  for  an  invention  of  such  use  and  service  to  man- 
kind. Now  for  these  reasons  I  think,  that  this  account  of 
Hyginus  was  not  the  true  ancient  Mythos  about  Prometheus; 
but  rather  an  opinion  of  some  later  fabulists,  who  thought 
they  could  this  way  find  an  easier  solution  of  what  was  said 
about  him.  The  soul  of  man  was  thought  by  philosophers, 
more  ancient  than  the  stoics,  to  consist  of  fire.  It  was  an  an- 
cient opinion,  that  the  Hebrew  word,  aish,  for  man,  was  de- 
rived from  ae^A,  which  in  that  language  signifies  fire;^  and 
very  probably  the  philosophy  of  the  times,  in  which  what  is 
said  of  Prometheus  was  first  recorded,  let  those,  who  framed 

8  la  another  place  he  says  thirty  thousand  years.     Astronom.  c.  xv. 

9  Hyg.  Fab.  144.  '  Poetic.  Astrononi.  c,  xv. 

-  UpK  ctKudueiv  J'  liipiTitv  yivo/uivcv  Tity  TTVfumv,  (^  av  iKKsuireu  to  TTvp.  Dlodor: 
sic.  1.  V,  c.  67. 

3  'Ev  'Ax3(ir«//w  Si  «r/  Ylpo/uiiBiO);  Cujuc^,  Kit  6es<r/)i  ««r'  avth  'O-jtos  rm  TrciKft 
t^ivli;  itaio/uivxi;  K^t/uTraSst;.  to  Si  uyci>vt(r/xa.,  c/xou  tct  SfOfjice  fuxa^tu  r»v  SuSa.  iTl 
xMofAfvxv  iTiv.     Paiisan.  in  Attic,  c.  30. 

••  Uuf  juiv  7ra.p±  TTpounQutK.     Plato,  in  Politic,  p.  539. 

5  Apollodor.  lib.  i.  c.  7;  Fiilgentii  Mythol.  lib.  ii,  c.9;  T.atian.  Orat.  ad 
Grace;  Clem.  Alex.  Strom,  lib.  v. 

6  Pausan.  in  Corinihiac. 

'  Vid.  Lucian.  in  Prometheo.  »  Vid.  Platon.  Protag.  p.  224 

9  Euseb.  Praep.  Evangel,  lib.  xi,  c.  6. 


liOOK  X.  HISTORY  CONNECTED.  83 

the  Mythos  concerning  him,  to  say  he  gave  fire  to  his  men^ 
but  not  in  that  low  and  vulgar  sense  in  which  some  writers 
of  later  ages  imagined.^  But  let  us  see  what  the  Greek  wri- 
ters say  of  him.  They  tell  us,  that  having  made  men  of  wa- 
ter and  earth,  he  gave  them  fire  without  Jupiter's  knowledge; 
that  Jupiter  for  this  fact  ordered  Vulcan  to  nail  him  down 
upon  mount  Caucasus;  where  an  eagle  for  many  years  preyed 
upon  his  liver,  until  at  length  Hercules  delivered  him.^  This 
is  their  account  of  him :  let  us  now  examine,  what  they  could 
design  to  intimate  by  it.  Lucian  indeed  tells  us,  that  the 
Athenians  called  the  potters,  who  made  earthen  vessels  and 
hardened  them  with  fire,  Prometheus's,^  but  then  he  owns 
that  they  were  the  wits  who  talked  thus:^  and  this  is  indeed 
making  a  jest  of,  but  not  explaining  the  ancient  fables.  The 
philosophers  treated  these  matters  in  a  more  serious  way.'' 
We  have  in  Eusebius  what  one  of  them  would  have  said  upon 
the  subject,^  Prometheus,  he  says,  was  fabulously  reported 
to  have  made  men;  because,  being  a  wise  man,  here  formed 
by  his  instructions  men,  who  were  in  a  state  of  the  grossest 
ignorance;  and  Plato  tells  us,  what  the  fire  was,  which  he 
stole  and  added  to  them ;  namely,  the  arts  which  Vulcan  and 
Minerva  taught  the  people.^  Science  is  the  fire,  the  life  of 
man,  though  none  but  God  did  ever  form  man  of  the  dust  of 
the  earth,  and  breatJied  into  Jiim  the  breath  of  life,  so  as  to 
cause  7nan  to  become  a  living  soul  ;^  yet,  what  is  said  of 
Prometheus,  taking  it  in  the  sense  we  have  now  offered,  is 
not  inelegant;  though  fables  and  similitudes  are  not  to  be  too 
strictly  taken ;  nor  can  instructing  men  be  absolutely  said  to 
be  making  and  giving  them  life.  And  now  we  may  see  how 
Prometheus  offended  Jupiter,  and  why  Jupiter  put  a  stop  to 
him.  Jupiter  had  appointed  proper  persons  to  instruct  his 
Cretans,  and  agreeably  to  what  was  the  sense  of  Joshua,  who 
attended  upon  Moses,^  he  thought  it  politically  unsafe  to  per- 
mit any  to  be  their  teachers,  but  those  who  derived  their  au- 
thority from  him;  and  therefore  Prometheus,  who  had  no  such 
authority,  was  treated  by  him  as  a  corrupter  and  seducer  of 
the  people.  It  is  not  so  easy  to  say,  what  the  punishment 
was,  which  Jupiter  inflicted   on  him.     What  is  told  of  the 

'  Nee  vero  Atlas  sustinere  coelum,  nee  Prornelheus  affixus  Gausaso — tr.ide- 
retur,  nisi  ccelestium  divin;i  cognitio  nomen  eorum  ad  et-rorern  fabulae  tra- 
duxissel.     Cic.  Tuse.  Dispiit.  lib.  v,  c.  3. 

~  Apollodor.  Bibliolh.  lib.  i,  c.  7.  ^  Lucian.  in  Prametheo, 

*  They  were  the  jesiers  upon  Promethcus's  materials,  the  idrtixiutiTrlovrit  ts 

TJV    '^HMV,    KM    TJIV    iV    TTUpi    CTrlyiCtV.       Ibid. 

*  Vid.  Pluton.  in  Protag.  C;u-    ubi  sup, 

6  n/ic/ja«6syc  .....  oc    TTKcLrlitv    a.v6pi»ivii;    ifji.v6evirc'    a-o^o;    yap  m  Uc  TrujS'uct.v 
ocuTisc  arro  tik  cysLv  diuruoi;  fjiiTiTrKHTliv .     Euseb.  in  Can.  Chrome,  ann.  332. 
"   AvdpceTrog  a-ofta.v  tiiv  ttoKithchv   ax,  ei^tv «/c  iTs  to   t»c  'aSjivsic  ksm    'Hpsura 

ZlKHf^'J.    TO    K-AVCV    £V    01    tq:lXQTi)(Vit'T»V ,    [ncSjMwSfUc]    AaSttV    UTip^iTAl,     KXt     X/lS^*?     TDfTf 

i//.vu^cjv  Ti-xjim  TJ;v  TK  'Hpa/s-B,  Kti    T«v    AKKm    THY    TJjf    A^iivo.^,    S'lSaia-lv    cLvBia:-JU\ 
Plat,  in  Protag.  p.  224. 

«  Gen.  ii,  7.  9  Numbers  xi,  28. 


84  SACRED  AND  PROFANE         BOOK  X. 

eagle  preying  upon  his  heart  or  liver  is  indeed  a  mere  fable; 
and  we  have  hints,  that  lead  to  the  rise  of  it.  Herodotus  re- 
marks, that  the  Greeks  had  the  names  of  almost  all  their  gods 
out  of  Egypt,^  and  Diodorus  observes,  that  there  had  been 
men  in  Egypt  of  all  the  several  names,  by  which  the  illus- 
trious Greeks  were  afterwards  distinguished.  Sol,  Saturn, 
Rhea,  Jupiter,  Juno,  Vulcanus,  Vesta,  and  Mercurius  were 
names,  which  had  been  given  to  famous  Egyptians;^  and  thus 
the  Egyptians  had  their  Prometheus,^  who  was  one  of  their 
kings.'*  In  his  time  the  river  Nile  was  called  the  Eagle,^  and 
great  inundations  happening  in  his  reign  from  the  overflowing 
of  this  river,  the  concern  he  had  for  his  country  threw  him 
into  the  deepest  melancholy.^  But  Hercules,  an  Egyptian  so 
called  (for  tliere  were  three  of  this  name,  and  the  first  and 
most  ancient  was  an  Egyptian,^)  embanked  the  river,  re- 
trieved the  country,  and  hereby^  relieved  the  king  from  the 
grief  and  concern  which  preyed  upon  him.  Now  from  what 
was  mentioned  in  the  Egyptian  records  of  this  fact,  the  Greek 
fabulists  took  occasion  to  say,  that  an  eagle  preyed  upon  the 
heart  or  liver  of  Prometheus,  until  Hercules  delivered  him.^ 
And  thus  this  part  of  the  Mythos  was  not  originally  intended 
of  the  Greek  Prometheus;  nor  does  it  at  all  belong  to  him. 
However,  he  was  boimd  down  to  mount  Caucasus.  I  imagine 
Jupiter  banished  him  to  some  uncultivated  mountain  called  by 
that  name,^  where  he  was  obliged  to  confine  himself  to  live, 
until  after  some  years  Jupiter  recalled  him  again. ^ 

1  Herod,  lib.  ii,  c.  50. 

~  Diod.  Sic.  lib.  i,  c.  11.  We  must  not  understand  either  Herodotus  to 
mean,  that  the  Greeks  took  the  Egyptians'  words  for  the  names  of  their  gods, 
or  Diodorus,  that  the  Egyptians  had  called  their  heroes  by  the  Greek  names  ; 
the  fact  was  this,  the  Greeks  formed  names  for  their  gods  and  heroes  of  the 
same  import  in  tlieir  language,  as  the  Egyptian  names  were  in  the  Egyptian ; 
as  homo,  the  Latin  word  for  man,  expresses  in  Latin  what  Adam,  tlie  Hebrew 
word,  does  in  Hebrew,  both  being  of  alike  analogy  to  tiie  word,  which  in  each 
language  signifies  the  ground ;  and  this  is  what  Herodotus  and  Diodorus  in- 
tended about  the  Greek  and  Egyptian  names;  viz.  that,  as  Diodorus  expresses 
it,  //aS-sg^jn'Ei/o^s/a'v  auTctiv  oy.uwjUH;  u.^xp^mv,  they  were  analogous  to  one 
another.  ^  Diodor.  ibid.  ■*  Diodor.  ibid. 

5  A/a.  T«v  c^urnTit,  K*t  thv  f/av  ts  Kilivi^Qtvloi  pivfxttTOf,  rev  y.iv  voraty.cv  Asrcv 
tvo/uciv^nvui.     Diodor.  lil).  i,  c.  19. 

<*  Tov  Si  ngOjMxS'i*,  Siu.  Tw  ?^u-riiv  KivSuvivuv,  !x.\i7riiv  rcv  Ctov  fXK<r/a>f.     Id.  ibid. 

'  Id.  lib.  lu,  c.  73.  8  Diodor.  lib.  i,  c.  19. 

"   Aio    Kxt    Tcet    Tru^    Exxxsr/    Troixrctv    Ttyx;    «c    juv^cv    ayu.yiiv    ro    ■■arpj.^Siy,  a; 

}l/iaX>.f«C    TCV    'ASTCV    cLV»fi'.KOTCi    T«V    TO    T!(     TlpOy-H^iUii    »^ag    iT^Kvlx.      Diodor.  C.    19. 

'  The  mountain  Caucasus  is  generally  placed  bj'  geograpiiers  between  the 
Euxine  and  Caspian  seas.  Apollodorus  calls  it  a  mountain  of  Scythia ;  but  we 
cannot  conceive  that  .Tupiter  siiould  dispatch  Prometheus  to  stici)  a  distance 
from  Crete.  I  rather  tiiink  some  mountain  of  Crete  was  called  by  this  name. 
As  in  after-ages  very  distant  nations  received  the  names  of  tlieir  deities  from 
this  island;  so  they  n\ight  likewise  the  names  of  mountains,  cities,  and  rivers. 
We  find,  the  fable  of  Prometheus  has  travelled  all  over  the  world.  In  Alexan- 
der's time,  mount  Caucasus,  the  scene  of  his  war,  was  said  to  be  in  India.  See 
Strabo,  lib.  xv,  p.  688,  as  before  it  h.ad  been  placed  in  Asia.  The  fable  of  one 
age  perhaps  removed  it  from  Crete  into  Pontus:  a  still  later,  with  as  much 
truth,  miglit  carry  it  thence  into  India. 

'  Apollodorus,  lib.  ii,  c.  4,  sec.  11. 


BOOK  X.  HISTORY  CONNECTED.  85 

The  hints  we  have  in  the  ancient  writers  are  too  short  to 
enable  us  to  pretend  to  give  a  large  account  of  the  respective 
lives  of  the  several  persons,  who  engaged  with  Jupiter  in  the 
scenes  of  action,  which  made  him  and  them  conspicuous  to 
the  age  in  which  they  lived,  and  created  them  that  fame,  which 
has  come  down  to  all  posterity.  Fable  has  told  us  many  par- 
ticulars of  them  all ;  but  much  of  this  may  be  set  aside,  by 
considering  what  can  and  what  cannot  belong  to  the  age 
when  they  lived.  I  imagine  they  did  not  all  settle  in  Crete 
during  their  whole  lives.  Apollo  was  a  great  traveller,  and 
visited  divers  parts  of  Greece,  endeavouring  to  form  all  he 
conversed  with  to  an  orderly  and  social  life.^  Whether  he 
began  his  travels  before  or  at  the  death  of  Jupiter,  I  cannot 
determine.  He  came  to  Athens,^  went  thence  to  Panopaeus, 
a  city  of  Phocis,*  where  he  killed  Tityus,  a  man  of  huge  sta- 
ture and  strength,''  who  opposed  and  domineered  over  that 
neighbourhood.''  From  hence  he  went  to  Delphos,  where 
Themis  then  lived  f  who  was  the  oracle  of  that  place,^  being 
probably  a  very  wise  woman,  capable  of  instructing  the  com- 
mon people  in  many  useful  arts  of  life.  Python  governed  here 
with  violence  and  cruelty,^  and  would  not  have  had  Apollo 
admitted  amongst  his  people;  but  Apollo  prevailed  against 
him  and  killed  him.-  Python  was  also  surnamed  Draco,^  and 
hence  the  fabulous  writers  might  take  occasion  to  invent  what 
they  say  about  Apollo's  killing  the  huge  serpent  called  Py- 
thon."* Apollo  seems  to  have  lived  the  rest  of  his  life  chiefly 
at  Delphos;  to  have  formed  and  instructed  the  people  here; 
and  to  have  been  so  much  respected  and  admired  by  them, 
that  posterity  afterwards  fixed  him  a  temple  in  this  place, 
and  supposed  him  the  god  who  gave  the  oracles  here,  which 
were  so  much  sought  to  in  after-ages. 

We  read  of  Pluto,  that  he  left  Crete  and  went  to  Tartarus, 
and  carried  away  Proserpine  the  daughter  of  Ceres  with  him.* 
Ceres  herself,  after  her  travels  in  search  of  her  daughter,*^ 
settled  in  Attica;^  where  she  became  so  famous  for  the  method 
she  taught  in  nursing  Deiphon  the  son  of  Celeus,  king  of 
Eleusis,  as  to  be  said  by  a  particular  regimen  to  have  made 
him  immortal.^  By  agreement  with  Pluto,  her  daughter  Pro- 
serpine was  to  live  with  her  two-thirds  of  the  year,  and  the 
other  third  part  in  Tartarus;  which  occasioned  the  fable  that 
Proserpine  lived  a  third  part  of  the  year  with  Pluto,  and  the 


ctvu/utpccv  icAgTrmv  K-xt  Tuv  Ciu'v.     Strubo.  Georg.  lib.  ix,  p.  422 

-»  Id.  ibid.  5  Id.  ibid.  6  ApoU.  lib.  i,  c.  4. 

"  Tiruov  i^ovlsi  Tcv  roTTov,  Cimgv  aV(S'poL  kh  TrafvoMv,     Strabo  ubi  sup. 

^  ApoUodorus  ubi  sup. ;  Strabo.  ibid.  9  Apollodor. 

1  Apollodoi'.  2  Id.  ibid.  3  strabo  ubi  sup. 

•'  Ovid.  Metam.;  Str.ibo,  p.  423.  5  Apollod.  lib.  i,  c.  5 

«  Id.  ibid.  "  .\ntonin.  lib.  Metam.  c.  2. 

«  Apollod.  ubi  sup. 


86  SACKED  AND  I'UOFANt  BOOK  X. 

rest  of  her  time  with  the  gods  above.^  The  Arundel  marble 
may  seem  to  fix  the  time  of  Ceres's  being  in  Attica  something 
late,  namely  to  A.  M.  2596/  which  is  about  eighty  years 
after  the  ninety-fifth  year  of  Jupiter.^  But  Ceres  was  sister  to 
Jupiter,^  and  therefore  can  hardly  be  supposed  to  have  come 
into  Attica  so  many  years  after  Jupiter  must  have  been  dead. 
But  I  would  observe,  that  the  Marble  Epoch  records,  that 
Ceres  taught  Triptolemus  the  son  of  Celeus  to  sow  corn,  and 
sent  him  to  teach  other  nations.  It  is  not  likely,  that  Tripto- 
lemus began  his  travels  before  he  was  two  or  three  and  thirty; 
and  his  father  Celeus  might  be  born  forty  years  before 
him.  Now  Ceres  nursed  Celeus  when  an  infant.'*  Let  us 
count  back  from  Triptolemus's  travels  to  teach  the  sowing 
of  corn,  to  the  infancy  of  Celeus,  when  Ceres  came  into 
Attica,  seventy-three  years,  and  we  shall  fix  her  coming 
into  that  country  A.  M.  2523,  i.  e.  near  the  time  of  Jupi- 
ter's death,  seven  years  after  his  ninety-fifth  year;  about 
which  time  she  may  indeed  be  thought  to  have  settled  in 
Attica.  Perhaps  nothing  more  was  intended  in  the  Marble 
Epoch  than  to  fix  the  time  of  Triptolemus's  travels;  and  it 
seems  to  have  fixed  them  agreeably  enough  to  what  might  be 
the  true  time  of  his  life;  and  Ceres  might  be  said  to  teach 
him  his  art,  merely  because  at  the  composing  the  Marble 
Epochs,  Ceres  was  esteemed  the  goddess,  who  presided  over 
this  part  of  husbandry.  Neptune  was  the  great  master  of  the 
seas,  with  Jupiter  and  his  family;  and  we  may  suppose  he 
managed  and  conducted  all  the  voyages  made  by  any  of  them. 
Plato  tells  us,  that  he  settled  and  planted  his  children  in  the 
island  Atlantis,*  which  seems  from  Strabo  to  have  been  either 
an  island  near  Euboea,^  or  in  the  Ionian  Sea  near  to  Elis,''  a 
city  of  Peloponnesus.  In  these  and  the  adjacent  seas  Neptune 
had  exercised  his  skill  in  sailing;  and  in  some  isle  of  these 
seas  we  may  well  suppose  him  to  have  lived,  when  he  gave 
over  a  seaman's  life.  Mars  and  Minerva  were  frequently  at 
Athens,  if  they  did  not  constantly  live  there.**  Vulcan  is  sup- 
posed to  have  gone  to  Lemnos;^  Ops,  who  was  called  Rhea, 
removed  from  Crete  to  Phrygia,  and  dwelt  on  mount  Cybe- 
lum,  and  became  famous  thcre,^  The  Arundel  marble  fixes 
the  time  of  her  appearing  there  to  A.  M.  24 99,^  which  falls 
towards  the  latter  end  of  Jupiter's  life,  and  very  well  agrees 
to  the  times  whei-ein  we  have  supposed  him  to  live.  Ops  was 
afterwards  called  Cybcle  from  the  mountain  where  she  lived. 
She  brought  arts  and  sciences  from  Crete  into  these  parts; 
and  hence  it  came  to  pass,  that  in  after-ages  divine  honours 

''  ApoUod.  ubi  su|).  '   Ep.  xii.  -   \"id.  qux  sup. 

3  ApoUod   lib.  i,  c.  1,  sec.  3  ;  DioJor.  Sic.  lib.  v,  c.  68. 

4  ApoUod   lib.  i,  c.  5.  '^  Plato  in  Critia.  p.  1103. 
c  Strab.  Geosf.  lib.  i,  p.  6C,  61.              ^  Mb.  vii,  p.  346. 

8  ApoUod.  lib.  iiii,  c.  4,  13.  »  Id.  tbid.  lib.  i,  c.  3,  sec.  5. 

'  Diodor.  lib.  iiij  Strabo,  lib.  s.  -  Epoch,  k. 


BOOK  X.  HISTORY  CONNECTED.  87 

were  paid  to  her  in  this  country,  though  in  Crete  no  rites 
were  ever  instituted  for  her  worship.^  Cybele's  travelhng 
from  Crete  into  Phrygia  might  occasion  some  places  as  well 
as  persons  in  Phrygia  to  have  names  given  them,  the  same 
which  had  before  been  the  names  of  persons  and  places  in 
Crete.  Thus  we  read  of  a  mount  Ida,"*  and  of  the  Idae  Dact)di 
in  both  countries.  Juno,  Vesta,  Venus,  Diana,  and  Mercurius 
were  occasionally  in  divers  parts  of  Greece,  and  celebrated 
in  all  for  those  arts  in  which  they  excelled.  And  thus,  al- 
though I  do  not  find  it  to  have  ever  been  fact,  that  Crete  ob- 
tained an  universal  empire  over  all  the  states  of  Greece, 
though  Aristotle  thought  it  well  situated  and  qualified  for  the 
acquiring  such  dominion;^  yet  it  appears,  that  its  ancient  in- 
habitants were  most  signally  instrumental  in  introducing  the 
first  rudiments  of  polity  into  many  of  these  nations,  instruct- 
ing both  their  kings  and  people  to  know  how  to  be  useful  and 
beneficial  to  one  another. 


mxtepia^uv      Strabo.  lib.  x,  p.  472. 

*   li>i  -yoLp  to  opog  ro  ts  Tpmicov,  ksu  to   KpnT^ov.     Ibid. 

5  Aoxs;   J"    »    viia-ot    [»    K/ixrixx]    icui  Trpcc  mv  a.pym  tuv  Ewuvikhv    Tifvuivut  koli 
--'/s-S-ifi  jcaM'c     Aristot.  de  Rep.  lib.  ii,  c.  10. 


SACRED  AND  PROFANE 


HISTORY  OF  THE  WORLD  CONNECTED. 


BOOK  XI. 


WHEN  the  Israelites  saw,  that  Moses  did  not  come  dow)h 
to  them  out  of  the  Mount,  they  were  greatly  surprised;  and 
gathered  about  Aaron,  and  required  him  to  make  them  a  god 
to  be  carried  before  them.^  Aaron  asked  them  for  their  ear- 
rings, which  they  forthwith  brought  him,  and  he  melted  them 
down,  and  a  golden  calf  was  made  of  them,  and  the  people 
made  acclamations,  This  is  thy  God,  0  Israel,  ivho  brought 
thee  up  out  of  the  land  of  Egypt. ^  Aaron,  when  he  saw  the 
image  received  with  such  applause,  built  an  altar  before  it, 
and  proclaimed  a  feast  unto  the  Lord;^  accordingly  they  met 
next  d^iy,  and  offered  sacrifices  to  their  idol,  and  celebrated 
their  feast,  and  rose  up  to  the  games  with  which  they  were  to 
end  it.''  Moses  at  this  time  coming  down  from  the  mount,^ 
and  entering  into  the  camp,  seeing  the  calf,  and  the  people 
dancing  before  it,  was  exceedingly  moved;  and  throwing 
down  the  two  tables  of  the  law,  which  he  had  in  his  hands," 
he  took  the  idol  and  melted  it;  then  reduced  the  lump  of 
gold  to  powder,  and  mixed  the  powder  with  water,  and  made 
the  children  of  Israel  to  drink  it.^    After  this  he  expostulated 

'  Exodus  xxxii,  1. 

2  The  Hebrew  expression,  ver.  4.  rendered  by  our  translators,  These  be  thy 
gods,  O  Israel,  luhich  brought  thee  up  out  of  the  land  of  Egypt,  may  at  first  seem 
to  hint  that  the  Israelites  had  made  gods,  in  the  pliiial  number ;  but  the  word 
elohim  is  known  to  be  often  taken  as  a  noun  singular,  and  the  image  here  al- 
luded to  was  but  one,  namely,  the  calf,  and  it  was  dedicated  to  only  one  God, 
the  Lord  ;  so  that  the  words  ought  to  have  been  translated  in  the  singular 
number. 

^  Exodus  xxxii,  5.  ■*  Ver,  6.  ■'•  Ver.  15. 

6  Ver.  19.  7  Ver.  20. 

Vol.  III.  M 


90  SACRED  AND  PROFANE        KOOK  XI, 

with  Aaron,  what  could  induce  him  to  lead  the  people  into  so 
great  a  sin. ^  Aaron  made  the  hest  excuse  he  could;  repre- 
sented the  perverse  disposition  of  the  people,  that  they  would 
not  believe  they  should  ever  see  him  more,  and  that  he  could 
not  avoid  yielding  to  their  importunity.^ 

The  Rabbins  think  they  can  entirely  excuse  Aaron ;^  saying, 
that  he  was  forced  to  a  compliance;  that  the  people  had  mas- 
sacred Hur  for  opposing  their  demands,  and  would  have  killed 
Aaron,  if  he  had  not  yielded  to  them.  What  authority  they 
had  for  these  assertions,  I  cannot  say;  I  think  we  nowhere 
read  of  Hur  as  alive  after  the  time  of  this  affair;  yet,  if  what 
they  offer  be  true,  I  cannot  see,  that  Aaron  was  innocent.  No 
obstinacy  of  the  people  could  have  forced  him  without  his 
own  fault;-  and  he  should  have  been  willing  to  die,  rather 
than  have  consented  to,  and  been  partaker  of  their  sins.  It 
may  perhaps  be  supposed,  that  Aaron's  compliance  was  at- 
tended with  some  circumstances  which  mitigated  the  fault, 
from  Moses  not  replying  to  the  apology  he  made,^  and  from 
what  is  said  of  the  people  in  relation  to  making  the  calf;  that 
they  made  the  calf  which  ^^aron  made  ;^  as  if  the  making  it 
was  imputed  rather  to  them  than  to  him.  Aaron  indeed  en- 
deavours to  clear  himself  of  having  had  a  hand  in  the  actual 
making  of  the  idol.  I  cast  it,  says  he,  /.  e.  the  gold,  which 
they  gave  me,  into  the  fire,  and  there  came  out  this  calf.^ 
The  expression  is  somewhat  obscure,  and  the  Rabbins  tell  us, 
that  Aaron  only  cast  the  gold  into  the  fire;  that  the  calf  came 
out  by  magic  art;  the  melted  gold  being  formed  into  the 
shape  of  an  idol,  not  by  Aaron,  but  by  some  invisible  agent. 
This  was  one  of  their  fancies;  but  Aaron  could  intend  no  such 
intimation.  He  designed  only  to  plead  that  he  was  not  ac- 
tually the  maker  of  the  image;  but  that  other  persons,  and 
not  he,  were  the  founders  of  it.  He  represents,  that  they  re- 
quired him  to  make  them  a  god;  that  hereupon  he  asked 
them  for  materials;  that  they  brought  him  their  gold;  theri, 
says  he,  I  cast  it  into  the  fire,  I  delivered  it  out  of  my  hands 
to  the  use  for  which  it  was  designed,  into  the  furnace  in 
which  it  was  to  be  melted,  and  there  came  out  this  calf^' 
i.  e.  I  was  no  farther  concerned  in  what  was  done;  the  next 
thing  I  saw  was  the  calf.  What  was  done  farther  was  done 
by  others,  not  by  me;  the  workmen  made  the  calf  and 
brought  it  to  me.     And  to  this  account,  I  think,  what  is  re- 

s  Ver.  21.  »  Ver.  22—24 

1  Vid.  I'oolc's  Synops.  in  loc. 

*  .liistum  et  ten.icem  propositi  virum 
Non  civium  .irdor  prava  jiibentium, 
Non  vultus  instantia  tyranni 
Mente  quatit  solida,  &c. 

Hon.  Cah.  lib.  iii,  ode  3. 

*  Exod.  xxxii,  21—24.  *  Ver.  35- 
s  Ver.  24.  «  Ver.  24. 


UOOK  XI.  HISTOllY  CONNECTED.  91 

lated  in  the  4th  verse  of  this  chapter,  should  he  agreeable. 
We  render  the  verse,  and  he  received  them  at  their  hand, 
and  fashioned  it  with  a  graving  tool,  after  he  had  made  it 
a  molten  calf;  and  they  said,  these  be  thy  gods,  ^-c.  The 
present  Hebrew  text  does  indeed  require  a  translation  to  this 
purpose.  But  if  the  fact  was  as  this  verse  seems  to  represent 
it,  surely  Aaron  was  the  person  chiefly  concerned  in  the 
workmanship  of  the  image;  and  there  could  be  no  room  for 
liim  to  pretend  to  plead,  that  not  himself  bat  other  persons 
were  the  makers  of  it.  Upon  this  account  I  suspect,  that  the 
present  Hebrew  text  in  this  verse  has  suffered  a  little,  through 
the  mistake  or  want  of  care  of  very  ancient  transcribers ;  that 
Moses  most  probably  wrote  the  verbs,  \\:hich  we  translate, 
a7id  he  fashioned  it,  and  he  made  it,  not  in  the  singular,  but 
in  the  plural  number,  like  the  verb  (vejaomern,)  and  they 
said,  which  follows  them.  The  variation  of  the  words  thus 
miswritten  is  not  so  considerable,  but  that  it  might  easily  be 
made,  without  any  great  inattention  in  writing;  especially, 
when  the  first  verb  in  the  period,  and  he  took  them,  being 
singular,  might  lead  to  it.  Now  if  we  may  take  the  liberty 
to  make  this  correction,  the  verse  would  run  thus:  And  he 
received  it,  i.  e.  the  gold,  at  their  hatids,  and  they  formed  it 
in  a  mould,'  and  they  made  a  tnolten  calf,  and  they  said, 
this  is  thy  god,  O  larael.^  And  thus  this  verse  would  agree 
with  what  is  suggested  in  other  places,  that  Aaron  indeed  re- 
ceived the  gold  which  was  brought  him;  but  that  the  forming 
it  in  the  mould,  and  making  it  into  a  calf,  and  proclaiming  it 
a  god,  was  not  done  by  Aaron,  but  by  others,  by  the  work- 
men or  artificers,  and  the  people.  But  notwithstanding  all 
this,  whatever  may  hence  be  offered  in  mitigation  of  Aaron's 
fault,  yet  certainly  all  will  be  too  little  to  prove  him  inno- 
cent; and  agreeably  hereto  we  find  a  great  share  of  the  guilt 
was  imputed  to  him.  The  Lord  ivas  very  angry  loith  him 
to  have  destroyed  him,  but  that  Moses  prayed  for  him.^ 

Moses  was  commanded  to  punish  the  people  for  the  wick- 
edness they  had  committed.  And  upon  finding  them  un- 
armed, and  upon  no  guard,  incapable  of  making  opposition, 
he  stood  in  the  gate  of  the  camp,  and  said,  JVho  is  on  the 
Lord's  side?  Let  him  come  unto  me.  And  all  the  sons 
of  Levi  gathered  themselves  together  unto  him;  and  he. 
said  unto  them,  thus  saith  the  Lord  God  ;  Put  every  man 
his  sword  by  his  side,  and  go  in  and  out  from  gate  to  gate 

'  I  would  take  the  word  tain  to  si.ajTiify  here  not  a  graving  tool,  as  we  render 
it.  That  is  indeed  its  general  acceptation ;  but  it  is  used  in  a  very  difteient 
sense,  2  Kintjs  chap,  v,  ver,  23.  It  there  signifies  a  bag,  or  little  chest,  and  by 
an  easy  inetaphor  from  this  use  of  it,  it  may  denote  a  mould  made  to  shut  up 
like  a  chest,  to  contain  and  form  the  metal  to  be  poured  into  it, 

s  The  words  of  the  text  would  be, 

«  Deut.  ix,  20, 


\)2  SACRED  AND  PROFAXE        BOOK  XI. 

Ihroughout  the.  camp,  and  slay  every  man  his  brother,  and 
every  man  his  companion,  and  every  man  his  neighbour. 
And  the  children  of  Levi  did  according  to  the  word  of 
Moses:  and  there  fell  of  the  people  that  day  about  three 
thousand  tnen} 

Our  English  version  does  not  entirely  come  up  to  the  He- 
brew expression  in  the  35th  verse;  which  we  render,  When 
Moses  saw  that  the  people  ivere  naked  (for  Aaron  had 
'made  them  7io-^td  to  their  shame,  amongst  their  enemies.) 
The  metaphor  is  indeed  easy,  to  say  they  were  naked,  as  be- 
ing unaimed,  and  the  Hebrew  verb  Paran  is  capable  of  being 
thus  used;  but  this  is  not  its  whole  signification,  and  it  hints 
more  than  this  in  the  place  before  us.  The  first  and  natural 
signification  of  the  verb  Paran  is,  to  free,  or  to  set  at  liberty.^ 
It  is  thus  used  by  Moses;^  the  king  of  Egypt  said  unto  them, 
Wherefore  do  ye,  Moses  and  Aaron  (taprinu  teth  hanam 
inimmanashaiv,^ )  let  the  people,  or  set  them  free  from 
their  loorks  ?  From  this  sense  the  word  was  easily  applied 
to  express  the  freedom  or  liberty  which  people  had  on  holy- 
days;  or  came  to  signify  in  general,  to  keep  holy-day ;  and 
we  find  it  thus  used  in  Judges  v,  2,  for  a  true  translation  of 
that  verse  would  be  Praise  the  Lord  in  or  at  keeping  the 
feasts,  or  holy-days,  of  Israel/  To  these  the  2Jeople  willingly 
offered  themselves  f  they  came,  behithnaddcb  nam,''  every 
one  as  his  spirit  made  him  willing^  i.  e.  every  one  without 
compulsion,  just  as  his  inclination  led  him,  and  they  behaved 
at  them  with  the  same  freedom.  For  we  must  not  suppose 
that  the  public  games  of  any  nation  were  at  first  under  the 
regulations  which  time  introduced;  but  rather,  were  a  sort  of 
voluntary  meetings,  where  authority  of  magistrates,  and  sub- 
jection of  inferiors  were  laid  aside;  and  every  one  headed  a 
"party,  or  acted  his  part,  or  took  his  place  to  see  the  diversion, 
as  it  happened,  or  his  fancy  led  him.  And  in  a  high  scene  of 
such  diversion  Moses  found  his  people,  ci  paran  huaf  for 
they  were  keeping  high  holy-day,  and  at  full  liberty.  The 
expression  is  remarkable;  it  is  not  ci  paran,  which  had  been 
enough  to  express,  that  they  were  at  liberty,  or  keeping  holy- 
day,  but  ci  paraii  hua.^  In  the  Hebrew  tongue  the  use  of 
this  pronoun  hua  has  sometimes  a  peculiarity,  which  I  think 
has  not  been  taken  notice  of.  It  generally  signifies  no  more 
than  THIS  or  that,  or  he  or  the   emphatically;   but  it  is 

'  Exodus  xxxii,  C6,  27,  28. 

-  Vid.  Aveiiar.  et  al.  Lexicograpli.  in  vcibo  jno. 

^  Exo<L  V,  4.  ■*  v^fDD  Di'n-PN  ij;'<-iDn.     lleb.  Text. 

■'  The  Hebrew  words  arc,  'jNnco  nij?">D  v"'C3 

Israel  in  ferias  feriando  in. 

6  Judges  V,  2.  ^  Text  Hcb.  op  a-ijnna. 

»  'I'liis  is  tlie  signification  oF  tlic  verb  atj.  It  is  thus  used  Exodus  xxxv, 
21,  29,  where  tlie  people  came  voluntarily  to  make  their  offering;  every  one 
g-iving,  without  any  exaction,  just  what  his  inclination  led  him  to. 

3  Kin  ;iD'3.     ifeb.  Text,  Exod,  x.xxii,  25.  '  Ibid. 


BOOK  XI.  HISTORY  CONNECTED.  93 

sometimes  used  to  denote  a  person's  doing  a  thing  of  his  oivn 
head,  as  we  say  in  English,  or  without  regard  to  the  direction 
of  any  other.  Thus  in  the  case  of  Balaam,  when  God  had  al- 
lowed him  to  go  with  the  messengers  of  Balak,  if  they  came 
in  the  morning  to  call  him  f  because  he  was  more  hasty  than 
he  ought  to  have  been,  and  went  to  them,  instead  of  staying 
until  they  should  come  to  him,^  it  was  said  of  him,  not  ci 
halak,  that  he  ivent,  but  ci  holek  hiia;'^  i.  e.  that  he  went  of 
his  oivn  head,  or  without  being  called.  And  thus  in  the  plu- 
ral number  hem  is  used  in  Psalm  xcv.  We  translate  the 
place,  //  is  a  people  that  do  err  in  their  hearts;^  but  the 
Hebrew  words  express  more,  hi  his  heart  had  been  belibbo,^ 
or  hilbaho  f  in  their  hearts  had  been  bilbabam^  or  belib- 
bayn?  But  the  words  here  used  are  lebab  hem,  which  sug- 
gest, that  people  erred  in  heart,  from  acting  of  their  own 
heads  ;  from  pursuing  their  own  ways,  or  following  their  own 
imaginations;  for  this  was  the  perpetual  crime  of  the  Israel- 
ites, and  this  was  what  the  Psalmist  here  intended,  as  appears 
by  the  close  of  the  verse, /or  they  have  not  known  my  ivays. 
And  thus  the  word  huu  is  here  used  in  the  passage  before  us; 
the  people  paran  hua,  were  at  loose  hand,  under  no  com- 
mand or  control.  Distinctions  and  authority  were  laid  aside, 
and  every  one  at  the  games  was  his  own  man,  and  conse- 
quently the  camp  must  have  been  in  no  condition  of  being 
called  to  order  and  a  posture  of  defence,  if  a  sudden  exigence 
had  required  it. 

From  what  I  have  said  about  the  use  of  the  word  paran, 
it  is  easy  to  see,  what  the  verse  I  am  treating  of  expresses, 
namely,  1.  That  the  people  were  upon  no  guard;  in  no  pos- 
ture of  defence;  under  no  direction  or  command  of  their  pro- 
per officers;  but  were  scattered  up  and  down  the  plain  at 
their  games,  as  their  fancy  led  them.  And  the  LXX  took  this 
to  be  the  meaning  of  the  place,  and  accordingly  translate  it, 
iSuv  Mcov(s?;s  tov  Xaoj',  on  6i(axi6agai,,^  i.  e.  Moses  seeing  the 
people  to  be  scattered  or  dispersed.  They  were  in  no  formed 
body  to  be  able  to  make  head  against  an  enemy;  and,  2. 
They  were  free  of  their  armour,  or  unarmed,  naked  in  this 
sense,  not  clothed  to  defend  themselves  against  any  violence 
which  might  be  offered  to  them.-     This  was  the  condition  in 

2  Numbers  xxii,  20.  3  Ver.  21. 

"  Ver.  22.  s  Psalm  xcv,  10. 

^  Psalm  xiv,  1.  "  Psalm  xv,  2. 

**  Psalm  xxviii,  ?-,.  9  Psalm  Ixxiv,  8. 

'  Exodus  xxxii,  25. 

^  The  word  Paraii,  as  I  have  observed,  primarily  signifies,  to  free  or  set  at 
liberty,  and  from  hence,  by  an  easy  metaphor,  it  denotes  to  free  ourselves  from, 
or  put  off  any  dress  which  \vc  had  upon  us.  Thus  Paran  Jiosh,  to  free  the 
head,  is  the  expression  for  the  high  priest's  putting  off  the  attire  he  wore  upon 
his  head,  Levit.  xxi,  1 ;  and  likewise  tor  women's  jjutting  off  their  head  dres- 
ses. Numb.  V,  18.  And  this  use  of  the  word  intimates  to  us  whence  St.  Paul 
look  an  expression  in  his  epistle  to  the  Corinthians.  The  ivomav,  says  he,  ought 
to  have  power  on  her  head,  he  means,  on^lu  to  be  covered;  for  to  have  the  head 


94  SACRED  AND  PROFANE        BOOK  XI. 

which  Moses  found  them  exposed  to  their  shame,^  or  in  a 
shameful  manner  amongst  their  enemies.  And  certainly 
Aaron's  conduct  was  very  inconsiderate  in  this  particular,  for 
their  enemies  were  not  far  distant.  The  Amalekites  had  not 
long  before  attacked  them.''  And  what  might  have  been  the 
fate  of  the  whole  people,  if  any  considerable  attempt  had  been 
now  made,  when  they  were  so  unguarded,  that  a  small  body 
of  men,  such  as  Moses  here  appointed  from  among  the  Le- 
vites,  might  go  in  and  out^  from  gate  to  gate  of  the  camp, 
and  without  difliculty  kill  as  many  of  them  as  they  would. 

Some  learned  writers  have  wandered  far  from  what  Moses 
intended  here  to  hint,  by  taking  the  expression  of  the  people's 
being  naked  in  too  strict  a  sense,  as  if  the  people  were  lite- 
rally so,  when  Moses  came  to  them.  Monceius  imagines,  that 
Aaron  had  stripped  them  of  their  clothes;  but  the  reasons  he 
gives  for  doing  it  are  very  v,-himsical.  He  supposes  that  the 
persons  who  had  been  guilty  of  the  idolatry  had  a  tumor  upon 
their  groin,  occasioned  by  their  drinking  of  the  water,  into 
•which  Moses  had  strewed  the  powder  of  the  idol  f  and  that 
Aaron  had  stripped  them,  either,  1,  to  prevent  an  increase  of 
their  infection;  or,  2,  to  discover  to  Moses,  who  were  guilty, 
and  who  were  innocent:  or,  3,  to  cause  the  innocent  to  sepa- 
rate from  the  guilty,  that  they  might  escape  their  punishment. 
But  the  whole  of  this  fancy  is  without  foundation.  It  is  like 
a  whim  of  some  of  the  fathers,  who  imagined,  that  the  beards 
of  those  who  drank  of  the  water  above-mentioned,  turned  yel- 
low. Bochart  mentions  a  version  made  in  the  thirteenth 
century,  wherein  the  27th  verse  of  this  chapter  of  Exodus  is 
thus  rendered :  Slay  ye  every  one  his  brother,  his  friend,  his 
neighbour,  even  all  those  ivho  have  golden  beards.  And  the 
gloss  upon  the  text  adds,  that  those  ivho  ivorshipped  the  calf 
had  their  beards  turned  into  a  gold  colour  ;  for  the  powder 
stuck  to  the  hair  miraculously.  And  Saurin  tells  us,  that 
he  had  a  Bible,  printed  at  Antwerp  in  the  year  1531,  with  this 
gloss  in  it.^  But  the  reader  may  be  furnished  with  many  fan- 
cies of  this  sort,  if  it  be  worth  while  to  search  for  them.** 
There  arc  indeed  other  writers  who  contend,  that  the  Israel- 
ites were  found  by  Moses  really  naked;  and  endeavour  to 
defend  their  opinion  witli  a  better  appearance  both  of  argu- 
ment and  learning.  They  suppose  that  the  Israelites  were 
dancing  naked  before  their  idol,  and  that  the  P^gyptians  had 
very  ancient  rites  in  their  religious  institutions,  in  imitation 

free,  iiiuler  no  restraint,  autliorltj',  power,  is  the  Hebrew  exprcssiou  for  being- 
uncovered,  and  tlieretore  7iot  to  have  the  head  free,  (^>i<rt'xv  e^nv  irt  t«c  xipaAJic. 
1  Cor.  xl,  10,  to  have  poxver  on  the  head,  may  denote  tlie  contrary,  or  to  be 
covered.  The  apostle  seems  to  have  put  a  Hebrew  idiom  into  Greek  words, 
which,  imless  we  consider  wliat  a  like  expression  in  Fiebrew  would  suggest  to 
MS,  do  not  at  first  sight  express  very  clearly  what  he  intended  by  them". 
3  Exod.  xxxii,  25.  ^  Chap,  xvii,  *  Chap,  xxxii,  27- 

c  Vid,  Pol.  Synops.  Critic,  in  loc.  '  Dissert.  53. 

■^  Vid.  Targ.  Jonath.  et  Hierosolymit, 


BOOK  XI.  HISTORY  COXNECTED,  95 

of  which  the  Israelites  might  celebrate  their  feast  with  this 
lewd  diversion.  They  remark,  that  the  Egyptians  had  dedi- 
cated a  golden  calf^  to  one  of  their  deities;  from  whence  pos- 
sibly the  Israelites  might  take  their  pattern,  and  that  both 
Plutarch^  and  Diodorus^  hint  very  indecent  practices  in  the 
Egyptian  Sacra,  and  that  there  is  a  passage  in  Herodotus,^ 
which  suggests  that  they  solemnized  games,  such  as  might 
lead  the  Israelites  into  the  naked  dance  here  alluded  to.  This 
is  the  utmost  that  can  be  offered  for  supposing  that  Aaron 
really  stripped  the  people.  But  to  all  this  it  is  easy  to  an- 
swer: for,  1.  The  passage  in  Herodotus  does  indeed  seem  to 
hint  some  obscenity,  of  which  the  historian  thought  it  not 
decent  to  give  a  full  narration;^  but  we  must  suppose  a  great 
deal  more  than  is  hinted  by  him,  to  make  it  come  up  to  the 
purpose  for  which  it  is  cited. ^  But,  2.  If  what  we  find  in 
Herodotus  could  be  supposed  to  describe  such  a  dance  as  the 
Israelites  are  by  these  learned  writers  said  to  have  practised, 
yet  it  must  be  remarked,  that  what  the  historian  alludes  to,  as 
well  as  the  obscene  Sacra  in  the  Isiaca  and  Osiria  of  the  Egyp- 
tians, were  all  of  later  date  than  the  time  of  Moses.  They 
were  said  to  be  the  institutions  of  Isis,''  and  were  not  intro- 
duced until  after  the  Egyptians  worshipped  hero-gods;  which 
did  not  happen  until  many  years  after  the  death  of  Moses.~ 
And  therefore,  3.  Though  the  heathen  nations,  when  they 
had  deserted  the  knowledge  of  God,  which  by  revelation 
God  himself  had  shewed  unto  them,  did  in  time  become 
vain  enough  in  their  imaginations  to  admit  shocking  tur- 
pitudes into  their  religious  institutions,  yet  they  sunk  into 
these  things  by  degrees;  and  we  have  no  reason  to  think 
that  the  Egyptians  were  thus  early  so  far  gone  as  to  afford 
a  precedent,  in  any  of  their  sacred  games,  for  such  a  dance 
as  these  writers  imagine;  nor  can  I  see,  if  they  had,  how 
Aaron  can  be  conceived  to  have  been  so  lost  to  all  sense  of 
decency,  as  to  have  copied  after  such  a  pattern. 

9  Bsv  (rw;^y3-ov im  Tru^H  t»c  S^k  <r«.xvuti«.    Pint,  in  lib.  de  Isid.  et  Osirid, 

p.  366.  We  may  be  allowed  to  translate  fsv  here  by  our  English  word  calf, 
if  it  be  considered,  that  Herodotus  called  the  Egj^tian  Apis  so.  E;t«/  Si  a 
iAo<r)(ii  «TCf  0  Attk  K±Kiifji.i\'K.     Herod,  lib.  iii,  c.  28. 

•  In  lib  de  Isid.  et  O^ind.  p.  358.  2  DIodor.  Sic.  lib.  i,  p.  13. 

3  Tt/3-TCVTa/  fxei  yap  cf«  /urrct  rnv  Svt-ixv  Travn;  icsti  ttclo-iu,  (xvpuiiiz  xst/JTa  Tr(jhKu.i 
a-fifunrm.  rov  Si  [or  t*  Si\  TUTnondu,  a  fAU  oc-iov  eg-i  Krytiv,  Herodot.  lib. 
ii,  c.  61. 

4  Suspicetur  aliquis  rem  turpem  et  obscoenam,  quain  aures  honestse,  \ix 
etiam  in  rebus  profanis  nominandam  audire  sustineant :  quum  Typhon  inven- 
tum  Osiridis  cadaver  in  partes  xiv,  divisum  disjecisset,  Isis  perquirendo  sin- 
gulas  reperit  prreter  puder.dam,  qu^  in  fluvium  projecta  mox  a  Phagro  et 
Oxyryncho  plsclbus  devorata  fuerat :  illius  igitur  loco  .ad  ejus  similitudinem 
factum  rov  ?*>.xov  consecravit,  cui  etiam  nunc  diern  festum  jEgyptii  celebrant. 
Hxc  Plutarchus.  Hoc  etiam  pliallo  percuti  solitos  m  sacris  illis  execrandis 
^gyptios  probabile  est.     Vid  Gronov.  Not.  in  Herodot.  lib.  ii.  p.  111. 

5  Quod  opinantur  aliqui,  .Egyptios  in  his  sacris  saltasse  nudos  el  nudas,  ut 
pudenda  phallo  percuteientur,  hoc  videtur  gratis  dictum. 

«  Plutai-ch  in  lib.  de  Isid.  et  Osirid.  "  Vol.  ii,  b,  viii. 


96  SACKED  AND  PROFANE  UOOK  XI. 

In  order  to  punish  the  Israelites  for  their  idolatry,  we  arc 
told  that  all  the  sons  of  Levi  gathered  themselves  together 
unto  Moses  f  and  we  must  think,  from  the  strict  orders  given 
them,^  that  they  must  have  killed  every  one  a  man;  yet  the 
number  of  all  who  fell  that  day,  were  only  about  three  thou- 
sand.' The  Levites,  men  and  children,  were  above  two  and 
twenty  thousand.^  The  children  indeed  could  not  serve  in 
the  employment;  but  more  than  eight  thousand  of  them  were 
from  thirty  years  old  to  fifty  ;^  and  if  only  every  one  of  these 
had  killed  a  man,  there  must  have  fallen  near  three  times  the 
number  above-mentioned.  The  vulgar  Latin  translation  has 
the  number  three  and  twenty  thousand  ;  but  this  is  a  variation 
from  the  Hebrew  text,  for  which  there  is  no  colour  from  any 
copy  or  other  version.  Some  learned  men  have  indeed  sup- 
posed, that  St.  Paul  suggested  the  same  thing,  but  they  mis- 
represent the  design  of  the  place  to  which  they  refer."*  St. 
Paul  intended,  in  the  verse  they  cite,  to  give  the  number,  not 
of  those  who  were  slain  for  this  idolatry,  but  who  died  of  the 
plague  for  their  fornication^  in  the  matter  of  Peor  and  of 
Cozbi.^  There  is,  I  confess,  a  difficulty  in  supposing,  that 
only  three  thousand  should  fall,  if  so  many  hands,  as  the 
whole  tribe  of  Levi  afforded,  had  taken  up  arms  against  them. 
But  the  real  fact  appears  to  be  this :  not  the  whole  tribe  of 
Levi,  but  only  all  the  sons  of  Levi,  who  were  among  those 
unto  whom  Moses  called,  came  together  to  this  service.  That 
the  whole  tribe  were  not  engaged  in  it,  is  evident  from  the 
charge  which  Moses  gave  them.  They  were  to  slay  every 
man  his  brother,''  and  every  man  his  son,^  if  any  so  nearly 
related  came  within  their  reach  ;  but  this  could  not  have  been 
supposed,  if  all  the  Levites  had  taken  up  the  sword;  for  then 
all  their  brethren  and  children  would  have  been  with  them, 
and  there  could  have  been  none  at  the  games  so  nearly  related 
as  a  son  or  a  brother,  to  have  been  slain  by  them.  But  farther, 
Moses  stood  in  the  gate  of  the  camp,^  and  called  to  the  per- 
sons whom  he  employed;  and  the  persons  he  called  were  not 
within  the  camp.;  for  he  directed  them  to  enter  the  camp,  to  go 
in  and  out  from  gate  to  gate  of  it}  Had  he  called  to  those 
who  were  at  the  games,  he  needed  not  to  have  gone  to  the 
o-ate  of  the  camp ;  but  rather  have  called  upon  the  spot  where 
they  were  playing.  I  therefore  think,  that  there  were  num- 
bers out  of  every  tribe,  who  had  retired  from  the  camp,  whilst 
this  idolatry  was  acting  in  it.  Unto  these  Moses  called  froni 
the  gate,  and  from  among  these  all  the  Levites,  to  about  such 
a  number  as  might,  in  executing  what  he  directed,  kill  about 
three  thousand  men,  gathered  themselves  together  unto  him. 


>  Ver.  28. 
4  1  Corinth,  x,  S, 
t  Exod,  xxxii,  2". 
»  Ver.2r. 


8  Kxoilus  xxxii,  26. 

9  Ver.  27. 

■'-  Numbers  iii. 

3  Chap,  iv,  4a 

5  Numb.  XXV. 

6  Ver.  18. 

3  Ver.  29. 

9  Ver.  26. 

BOOK  XI.  HISTORY  CONNECTED.  97 

Moses  had  enjoined  them  to  take  up  the  sword^  for  Gob's  ser- 
vice; and,  if  they  desired  to  acquit  themselves  so  as  to  be  ac- 
cepted by  him,  to  be  careful  not  to  make  the  work  they  were 
engaged  in  a  scene  of  their  own  private  passions  and  par- 
tialities, but  to  execute  the  vengeance  strictly  and  indiscrimi- 
nately upon  all  that  should  happen  in  their  way,  how  near 
and  dear  soever  they  might  be  to  them.  On  the  next  day 
Moses  remonstrated  to  the  people  the  greatness  of  their  sin  ; 
but  promised  to  endeavour  to  intercede  for  them.^  God  was 
pleased  so  far  to  admit  his  intercessions,  as  to  order  him  to 
prepare  the  people  to  march  for  Canaan,"*  telling  him,  that  he 
would  send  an  angel  before  them  to  put  them  in  possession  of 
the  land,*  but  that  himself  would  not  go  tip  any  farther  in  the 
midst  of  the?n.^  When  Moses  acquainted  tiie  people  here- 
with, they  were  greatly  dejected.^  God  hereupon  appointed 
them  a  solemn  humiliation  to  avert  his  displeasure  f  and  Mo- 
ses erected  a  tent  without  the  camp,  and  called  it  the  ta-bei*- 
nacle  of  the  congregation. °  Upon  this  the  cloudy  pillar  de- 
scended, in  the  sight  of  all  the  people,  and  here  the  Lord 
talked  with  Moses,'  and  at  length  promised  him,  that  his 
presence  should  go  with  them,  and  give  them  rest.^ 

It  must  at  first  sight  seem  a  very  monstrous  thing  to  us, 
that  the  Israelites,  in  the  midst  of  what  God  was  doing  for 
them,  whilst  his  presence  among  them  was  so  visible,  whilst 
the  sight  of  his  glory  was  tike  a  devouring  fire  on  the  top 
of  the  mount:  I  say,  whilst  God  was  thus  marvellously  and 
evidently  near  to  them,  it  may  be  thought  very  strange  and 
unaccountable,  that  they  should  so  presently  fall  away  from 
what  had  been  commanded,^  and  fall  into  what  must  appear 
to  us  a  most  gross  and  senseless  folly :  to  set  up  a  calf  to  make 
it  a  god;  to  pay  worship  to  it.  It  is  generally  said,  that  the 
Israelites  dedicated  the  calf  in  imitation  of  what  the  Egyp- 
tians practised  in  their  religion.  This  was  Philo's  opinion/ 
which  St.  Stephen  confirms;^  and  therefore  what  some  have 
supposed,  that  Aaron  formed  the  calf  to  represent  a  cheru- 
bim,*^ is  not  only  a  mere  groundless  fancy,  but  contradicts 
what  the  sacred  writer  hints  ;  namely,  that  their  turning  their 


2  The  commentators  seem  to  suspect  a  difficulty  in  this  place,  supposing 
the  verb  n'?d  to  be  here  used  not  in  its  common  acceptation ;  but  I  am  at  a 
loss  to  find  out  what  could  lead  them  to  any  such  imagination.  The  Hebrew 
text  verbally  translated  would  run  thus  :  Ft.r  JlToses  said,  fill  your  hands,  i,q. 
with  the  sword,  or  take  up  your  sword,  to  day  for  the  Lord,  for  each  man  is  to 
be  against  his  son  and  his  brother,  that  he  [ijuvi'\  may  give  you  a  blessing;  the 
meanint^  of  the  verse  must  be  obvious  to  every  reader. 

3  Exodus  xxxii,  30.  4  Ver.  34. 
^  Chap,  xxxiii,  2.  6  Ver.  3. 

^  ^'e^.  4.  8  Ver.  5. 

^  Ver.  7.  I  Ver.  9,  10,  11. 

2  Ver  14.  3  Chap,  xx,  4. 

*  Phil.  Jud.  de  vlt.  Mosis,  lib.  iii,  p.  677.  *  Acts  vii,  39,  40.' 

s  Spencer,  de  Leg.  Heb.  lib.  i,  c.  1,  sec.  1 ;  Witsli  .Egvptiac.  lib,  ii,  c.  2. 

Vol.  III.  N 


98  SACRED  AND  PROFANE        BOOK  XI. 

hearts  back  to  Egypt,  their  inclining  to  have  such  Sacra  as 
were  there  used,  was  what  led  them  to  set  up  this  object  for 
their  worship.^  It  has  been  argued  by  some,  that  the  Israelites 
intended  here  to  fall  entirely  into  the  Egyptian  religion,  and 
that  the  deity  to  whom  they  made  the  calf,  was  some  god  of 
the  Egyptians;^  but  I  think  it  plain  that  this  was  not  the  fact. 
The  Israelites  evidently  designed  to  worship,  in  the  calf,  the 
God  who  had  brought  them  out  of  the  land  of  Egypt;^  and  their 
feast  was  accordingly  proclaimed,  not  to  any  Egyptian  deity, 
but  to  THE  Lord;  to  Jehovah;^  to  their  own  God-,  so  that 
their  idolatry  consisted,  not  in  really  worshipping  a  false 
deity,  but  in  making  an  image  to  the  true  and  living  God. 
Now  this  being  the  fact,  and  this  fact  heing  expressly  con- 
demned as  idolatry  by  the  Apostle,^  the  Papists  are  from 
hence  unanswerably  charged  with  idolatry  for  their  image 
worship,  and  they  can  in  nowise  justify  themselves;  for  what 
they' offer,  if  it  might  be  admitted,  would  vindicate  the  Is- 
raelites as  well  as  them.  It  will  be  still  said,  what,  if  the 
Egyptian  religion  was  indeed  full  of  these  senseless  supei'sti- 
tions,  is  it  not  strange  that  the  Israelites  should  be  so  fond 
of  continually  imitating  the  rites  and  usages  of  that  nation  .-*  I 
answer;  this  must  indeed  seem  strange  and  unaccountable,  if 
we  can  imagine,  that  they  were  for  copying  after  these  pat- 
terns merely  because  they  were  Egyptian ;  but  the  fact  ap- 
pears in  another  light,  if  we  consider  that  the  wisdom  of 
Egypt  was  in  these  days  of  the  highest  repute  of  any  in  the 
world ;  and  that  the  Egyptian  institutions  were  not  at  this 
time  suspected  to  be  absurd,  unreasonable,  or  superstitious-,^ 
but  on  the  contrary,  reason  and  philosophy  were  thought  in- 
contestably  to  support  the  practice  of  them.^  I  cannot  imagine 
that  the  Israelites  had  been  such  servile  imitators  of  Egypt, 
as  some  learned  writers  arc  apt  to  represent  them.  We  see 
in  fact  they  had  rejected  their  gods ;  being  convinced,  that 
the  God,  who  had  brought  them  out  of  the  land  of  Egypt  was 
the  only  God  to  be  worshipped  by  them  ;^  and  had  they  been 
as  sensible  that  the  calf  they  had  made  was  a  real  absurdit}*^, 
they  would,  I  dare  say,  not  have  been  at  all  induced  to  make 
it  by  any  knowledge  or  imitation  of  the  Sacra  of  the  Egyp- 
tians. But  according  to  the  rudiments  of  the  world  in  these 
ages,  reason  was  thought  very  clearly  to  dictate,  that  images 
were  necessary  to  a  lively  and  significant  service  of  the  deity;'' 

'   Acts  vii,  ubi  sup.  ^  Spencer,  ubi  sup. 

^  KxDil.  xxxii   4.  '  Ver.  5. 

^  1  Corimh.  X.  7. 

t^nnrig-oi^uiiro  iipupytxii.     I'lutanh.  in  lib    Isid.  ct  Osirid.  p.  35J. 

*  KiXa;  ot  v.fAO!  to.  Tngi  Tac  ■S'l/T/ac  STS^av,  ^to  Sii  /jl-xkit^  t/>3c  T«t/Tst  >sy(,)i 
fx,  ifikoi7itfiui^  /uug-uyuy.v  sLvxKxC'^vrx.;,  oaimi  iftavcUa-^cti  Tctv  Kiyo/utvetv  km  ^fu>y.im\ 
iM^iv.     III.  ibid,  p   ;>7y.  *  Kxodus  xxxii,  4,  5. 

c  Plutarch,  ubi  sup.  Antiques  simulaclira  Deorum  confinxisse,  qux  i  urn 
oculis  .-inimadvertissent,  hi,  qui  adissent  diviiia  mysteria,  possent  animum 
muudi  ac  partes  ejus,  id  est,  Ueos  vcros  vidcrc.    Varro  in  Fragment,  p.  40. 


BOOK  XI.  HISTORY  CONNECTED.  99 

and  such  a  sort  of  image  as  the  Israelites  now  used,  was  ac- 
counted to  be  b)^  nature  designed  for  this  very  purpose/  and 
the  wise  and  the  learned  thought  they  worshipped  ^duixwj,  and 
es  eemed  it  a  part  of  natural  religion  to  dedicate  these  Sacra. 
Thus,  I  think,  I  might  justly  say  of  the  Israelites,  that  in  all 
they  did  in  this  matter,  there  had  no  tetnptation  taken  them 
hut  what  is  common  to  man.^  It  is  indeed  true,  that  God 
had  made  a  covenant  with  this  people,^  the  import  and  design 
of  which  was  to  engage  them  to  obey  his  voiced  and  to  ivalk 
in  the  ways  luhich  he  should  command  them,^  that  they  might 
not  walk  in  the  counsels  of  their  own  hearts,^  but  should  trust 
in  the  Lord  with  their  whole  heart,  and  not  lean  to  their  own 
understanding.^  This  was  to  have  been  their  wisdom,  this 
their  understanding  in  the  sight  of  all  nations;^  if  they  would 
have  bowed  their  hearts  to  adhere  to  it.  But  when  or  where 
has  mankind  been  truly  ready  to  pay  unto  God  this  obedience 
of  faith?  Our  first  parents  would  not  be  restrained  by  a  divine 
command,  from  what  they  thought  in  reason  was  to  be  de- 
sired to  make  them  wise.^  And  thus  the  Israelites  would  have 
images,  when  they  thought  reason  and  natural  science  to  be 
for  them;  though  God  had  said  expressly,  make  no  image." 
In  the  same  spirit  and  way  of  thinking,  the  learned  Greeks 
in  their  day  would  not  admit  the  doctrine  of  the  cross,  though 
attested  to  come  from  God  by  the  demonstration  of  the 
spirit  and  of  power^  because  it  seemed  foolishness  to  them.^ 
And  I  need  not  remark  how  difficult  it  is  at  this  day,  to  per- 
suade men  to  have  their  faith  stand,  not  in  the  wisdom  of 
tnaji,  but  in  the  power  of  Gob.^  Vain  man  would  be  wise, 
though  man  be  born  as  the  zoild  ass's  colt.^  A  restless  incli- 
nation to  pursue  what  seem  to  be  the  dictates  of  human  wisdom, 
i-ather  than  strictly  to  adhere  to  what  God  commands,  has  ever 
been  the  rtstpaajuoj  av^^ioHivoi',^  I  might  say  the  human  foible, 
the  seducement,  which  has  been  too  apt  to  prevail  against  us. 
Our  modern  reasoners  think  they  argue  right,  when  they 
contend,  that  "if  we  find  any  thing  in  a  revelation,  which 
appears  contrary  to  our  reason,  no  external  evidence  what- 
soever will  be  sufficient  to  prove  its  divine  original ;  but  that 
upon  observing  any  thing  in  it  so  opposite  to  our  natural  light 
and  understanding,  we  ought  to  give  up  such  a  revelation  as 
absurd,  and  therefore  false,  whatever  extrinsic  proofs  may  be 
offered  in  support  of  it."   But  was  not  this  the  part  which  the 


'  T<(UayTac   (Tw  tutc^v  to     dttiv    u;   iY:f-f,-}i7(puv    ttrcvrfo^v    Kctt   ipi/a-u    yey-ovorccv. 
Plut.  ubi  sup. 

8  1  Corinth,  x,  13.  9  Exod.  xxiv,  5—8;  Deut.  v,  3. 
'  Exod.  xix,  5 ;  Jerem.  vii,  22,  23.  ^  Jerem.  ibid. 

3  Jerem.  vii,  24.  *  Frov.  iii,  5. 

5  Deut.  iv,  6.  o  Gen.  iii,  6. 

"!  Exod,  XX,  4.  8    !  Corinth,  i,  24. 

9  Ver.  23.  i  Chap,  li,  5, 

~  Job  xi,  12.  »  1  Corinth,  x,  13. 


100  SACKED  AND  PliOFAXE  BOOK  XI. 

Israelites  here  acted  ?  To  have  no  images  to  direct  their  wor- 
ship was,  according  to  the  then  theory  of  human  knowledge, 
contrary  to  what  they  called  science  and  reason.  As  soon 
therefore  as  Moses  was  gone  from  them,  they  regarded  not 
the  commandment  which  had  heen  given  them.  The  external 
proof,  which  they  had  of  its  divine  authority,  weighed  but 
little  with  them,  in  comparison  of  what  they  imagined  reason 
dictated  very  clearly  in  this  matter. 

Some  learned  writers  endeavour  to  argue,  that  if  the  Israel- 
lies  had  not  fallen  into  idolatry,  by  setting  up  the  calf,  God 
would  not  have  given  them  the  ritual  or  ceremonial  part  of 
llie  law."*  They  say,  that  at  first  God  spake  not  unto  them, 
nor  commanded  them  concerning  burnt-offerings  or  sacri- 
fices ;^  hut  gave  them  his  statutes,  and  showed  them,  his 
judgments,  ivhich  if  a  man  do,  he  shall  even  live  by  themf 
adding  to  these  only  his  Sabbaths,  to  be  a  sign  between  him, 
and  them,  that  they  might  knuiv  him  to  be  the  Lord.^ 
They  observe,  tliiiL  the  ten  commandments,  and  the  statutes 
which  follow  to  the  end  of  the  xxxiiid  chapter  of  Exodus,  do 
well  answer  to  these  accounts  of  the  prophets,  and  were  in- 
deed such  a  law  of  moral  righteousness,  that  the  man  which 
doth  these  things  shall  live  by  them,^  without  any  further 
observances  to  recommend  him  unto  God.  But  when  the 
Israelites  would  not  walk  in  God's  statutes,  but  despised  his 
judgments,^  and  had  their  eyes  after  their  fathers'  idols;'  that 
then  the  ceremonial  laiv  ivas  added  because  of  their  trans- 
gressions^ then  God  gave  them  also,  or  over  and  above  what 
he  had  before  commanded  them,  statutes  that  were  not  good, 
and  judgments  whereby  they  should  not  live;^  namely,  the 
positive  and  ritual  precepts,  which  Moses  was  then  directed 
to  deliver  to  them.  We  may  find  this  opinion  at  large  in  the 
work  called  the  apostolical  constitutions;''  and  there  is  an  ap- 
pointment in  the  xxth  chapter  of  Exodus,  which  perhaps  may 
be  thought  to  favour  it.     An  altar  of  earth,  or  of  rough  un- 


■'  Antcquam  offendcrcnt  Dominum,  idoltini  illud  erifjentes,  Decalogiim  tan- 
tum  acceperunt;  post  idololatriani  vero  ct  bluspheimas,  ceremonias  k-g-ales 
inultas  dcdit,  ad  niliii  aliud  utiles,  quam  ut  eos  remorarentur  a  dxmonum  ciiltu 
ft  sacrilegasuperstitione  gentium.  Isidor.  Clar.  Schol.  in  Ezek.;  Vid.  Spencer. 
de  Leglb.  lleb.  lib.  i,  c.  4,  sec.  4. 

5  Jcrcm.  vii,22.  6  Ezek.  xx,  11. 

-'  Ver.  12.  8  Rom.  x,  5. 

!>  Ezek.  XX,  24.  '  Ibd. 

2  Gal.  iii.  19.  3  Ezek.  xx,  25. 

4  ASiTa'Ksi'  vc^Mov  ct^T^.KV  s/f  ^'jnhuM  TK  ^•jvin.x,  icuS:ipov  <Tar>ipiov,  it-yiov,  IV  ex  Kit  T3 
ihzv    (,v'^fJi.i.    lyK-XTibiTo,    ra.iicv,    a.nK>M7ni,    J'ikx    xcyiuv    ?rK>tp>i,    auayxtv,    trig-ptrcvlx 

i^iK-ux?  TX(  xpi7u;  rcimSxt.  Const.  Apost   lib  vi,  c   19,  20.     Otots  St  ot  t«  koih 

TVn    AfJLyHfAOVi;    UTDip^AV,    X.XI    fJ^OO-^OI    Uvlt    TK  flsS    fXtX.X>.trX]lh TOTf   C^KtSu!    0    QtOi 

tS.iff-ev  avTKf  J'lTjUiii;  ahvToii  g-iSu^u  fcprKr/w.x  ksu  a-KAiifOTiiri  nKoix  Ibid.— o  t>s 
(=)ix  1//5C— T3t  tTTUTMira.  :r(^iuk(v.  C.  2-'.  hk  uvOmv  Tiv  fu3-/x3V  l':,«:v,  aK\x  tslutx; 
Tx  S't*  T«j  Jtu7ffU3-ia;  vtutmitoi..     Ibid. 


BOOK  XI.  HISTORY  CONNECTED.  101 

lievvn  stone,  was  commanded  at  the  giving  of  the  law,  for  all 
their  sacrifices;*  but  at  the  institution  of  the  ritual  injunc- 
tions a  different  altar  was  appointed,  of  much  workmanship 
and  of  another  nature;^  which  may  seem  to  hint,  that  the  ob- 
servances belonging  to  it  were  not  a  continuation  of  what  was 
at  first  intended,  but  rather  an  addition  of  new  rites,  like  the 
altar  to  which  they  belonged,  and  of  a  different  composition. 
But  I  answer, 

I.  What  is  contended  for,  that  God  did  not  intend  and  com- 
mand the  ritual  part  of  the  law  of  Moses,  before  the  Israelites 
set  up  the  calf,  is  not  true  in  fact.  The  xxv,  xxvi,  xxvii, 
xxviii,  xxix,  xxx,  and  xxxist  chapters  of  Exodus  show  us  un- 
deniably, that  the  Tabernacle  was  ordered ;  the  utensils  and 
furniture  of  it  directed;  the  order  of  the  Levitical  priestliood 
was  appointed;  the  persons  designed  for  the  offices  of  it  were 
named ;  their  vestments  and  rites  of  consecration,  the  altars, 
and  the  daily  offerings  were  prescribed;  in  a  word,  the  foun- 
dation and  frame  of  the  whole  Jewish  law  was  laid  and  formed 
by  the  immediate  designation  of  God  to  Moses,  before  the 
people  had  corrupted  themselves  by  their  idolatry.  Had 
these  chapters  followed  after  the  making  of  the  calf;  or  had 
wc  any  reason  to  imagine  tliat  the  contents  of  them  were  not 
dictated  to  Moses  until  his  second  going  up  into  the  mount/ 
after  he  had  made  intercession  for  the  people;^  there  would 
be  some  appearance  in  favour  of  the  argument  above  stated. 
But  since  the  several  directions  contained  in  these  chapters 
were  all  evidently  given  to  Moses,  before  the  Lord  inti- 
mated to  him  to  get  him  down  from  the  mount,  for  that  the 
people  had  corrupted  themselves  f  whatever  men  of  learn- 
ing may  think  to  offer,  to  prove  that  the  ritual  law  had  not 
been  intended  until  the  Israelites  fell  into  idolatry,  it  is  indis- 
putably plain,  that  the  fact  was  otherwise;  and  that  God  was 
delivering  to,  and  instructing  Moses  in  all  the  parts  of  it,  be- 
fore the  idolatry  of  the  calf  was  contrived  or  intended  by  the 
people.     And  agreeably  hereto  we  may  observe, 

II.  That,  after  Moses  had  made  intercession  for  the  Israel- 
ites, and  was  commanded  to  renew  the  tables,^  to  erect  the 
tabernacle,-  and  had  a  visible  sign  of  God's  approving  it,  by 
the  cloud's  covering  it,  and  the  glory  of  the  Lord  filling  it, 
and  God's  speaking  unto  him  out  of  it;^  we  may,  I  say,  ob- 
serve, that  in  all  these  things  nothing  new  or  before  unde- 
signed was  done.  But  the  very  law  was  now  farther  com- 
pleted, which  God  before  the  sin  of  the  calf  had  in  part  de- 
livered to  them,  and  it  was  completed  exactly  according  to, 
and  without  any  deviation  from  the  directions,  which  had 

s  Exod.  XX,  24.  6  Chap,  xxvii. 

•  Chap,  xxxiv,  4,  28.  »  Chap,  xxxii,  31  j  xxxiii. 

^  Chap,  xxxii,  7.  1  Chap,  xxxiv,  1. 

-  Chap.  XXXV,  xxxvi,  xxxvii,  xxxvlli,  xxxix. 

^  Exod.  xl,  34;  Lcvit,  i,  1. 


102  SACRED  AND  PROFANE        BOOK  XI. 

before  the  commission  of  that  sin  been  given  unto  Moses. 
And  the  visible  signs  of  God's  presence  upon  the  erecting  the 
tabernacle  were  exactly  according  to  what  God  promised  him, 
the  first  time  of  his  being  with  him  on  the  mount;  namely, 
that  He  would  meet  him  at  the  door  of  the  tabernacle  of  the 
congregation,  and  speak  there  unto  him,  and  there  meet 
with  the  children  of  Israel,  and  sanctify  the  tabernacle  by 
his  glory,  to  sanctify  the  tabernacle  and  the  altar,  and  Aaron 
and  his  sons,  and  to  dwell  am,ongst  the  children  of  Israel, 
and  to  be  their  God.'*  All  these  things  were  promised,  before 
the  Israelites  set  up  their  idol,  exactly  according  to  what  was 
afterwards  performed.  Therefore,  if  there  be  indeed  any  pas- 
sages in  Scripture,  which  represent  the  ritual  part  of  the  law 
as  being  given  upon  account  of  the  idolatry  of  the  people,  we 
must  find  some  way  to  new  model  the  history  of  Moses,  or  it 
will  not  agree  with  them.     But, 

III.  There  are  no  texts  of  Scripture,  which  intimate,  that 
the  ritual  law  had  been  given  because  of  the  Israelites'  ido- 
latry. The  abettors  of  this  opinion  do  indeed  commonly  cite 
the  words  of  St.  Paul,^  or  of  the  prophets  Jeremiah^  and  Eze- 
kiel,^  to  countenance  their  assertion ;  but  it  is  easy  to  show, 
that  the  passages  to  which  they  refer  have  no  such  meaning 
as  they  would  put  upon  them.  For,  1.  St.  Paul  indeed  says, 
the  law  was  added  because  of  transgressions  ;^  but  he  does 
not  here  treat  of  the  ritual  part  of  the  law  in  opposition  to  the 
moral,  nor  suggest,  that  any  one  part  of  the  law  was  added  for 
the  Israelites'  not  having  punctually  observed  some  other  part 
of  it;  but  he  speaks  of  the  whole  Mosaical  dispensation,  and 
argues,  that  it  had  been  instituted  upon  account  of  the  wick- 
edness and  corruption  of  the  world.  When  God  brought  the 
Israelites  out  of  Egypt,  true  religion  was  almost  perished  from 
the  face  of  the  Earth;  for  men  in  all  nations  were  greatly  cor- 
rupted both  in  faith  and  manners.  Hereupon  God  was  pleased 
to  choose  to  himself  the  house  of  Jacob,  to  be  z  peculiar  trea- 
sure unto  him  above  alljyeople-^  and  he  revealed  himself  to 
them,  and  gave  them  a  law,  to  recal,  and  to  preserve  them 
from  going  after  the  heathens  to  learn  their  ways,  until  the  seed 
should  come,^  and  to  shut  them  up  unto  the  faith,  which 
should  afterwards  be  revealed,^  and  to  bring  them  unto 
Christ.^  This  is  the  argument  of  the  apostle  in  the  place 
cited,  which  suggests,  not  that  God  gave  the  Israelites  first  a 
moral  law,  just  and  holy  and  good,  and  afterwards  when 
they  would  not  observe  this,  then  a  ritual,  \veak,  and  unj)ro- 
fitable  law,  to  punish  them  for  their  wickedness  and  folly  ; 
but  it  represents,  that  God  gave  them  the  law,  as  Moses  has 

4  Exod.  xxix,  42,  43,  44,  45.  ■'  Gal.  ili,  19. 

6  Jerem.  vii,  22.  '  Ezek.  xx,  1 1—26 

8  Galat.  ubi  sup.  '  Exod.  xix,  5. 

>  Gal.  r.i,  19.  '  ^  Vcr.  23, 

3  Ver.  24. 


BOOK  XI.  HISTORY  CONNECTED.  103 

related,  consisting  indeed  of  divers  precepts,  and  various  com- 
mands, but  all  excellently  adapted  to  have  had  a  great  effect, 
if  the  Jews  had  not  behaved  themselves  strangely,  and  de- 
feated the  benefits  which  they  might  have  received  from  it. 
But,  2.  The  Prophet  Jeremiah  remarks,  that  God  spake  not 
unto  the  Israelites,  nor  commanded  them,  in  the  day  that 
he  brought  them  out  of  the  land  of  Egypt,  concerning 
burnt  offerings  or  sacrifices  ;'^  from  whence  it  is  argued,  that 
these  were  not  a  part  of  the  religion,  which  was  at  first  en- 
joined them.  But  we  shall  best  see  the  meaning  of  the  pro- 
phet, by  considering,  what  it  was  that  God  spake  unto  them 
at  the  time  he  refers  to.  And  we  find,  that  when  Moses  went 
up  unto  God,  the  Lord  called  unto  him  out  of  the  moun- 
tain, saying,  Thus  shall  thou  say  to  the  house  of  Jacob, 
and  tell  the  children  of  Israel;  Ye  have  seen  what  I  did 
unto  the  Egyptians,  and  how  I  bare  you  on  eagles'  loings, 
and  brought  you  unto  myself  Now,  therefore,  if  ye  will 
obey  my  voice  indeed,  and  keep  my  covenant,  then  shall  ye 
be  a  peculiar  treasure  unto  me  above  all  people :  for  all 
the  Earth  is  mine.  And  ye  shall  be  unto  me  a  kingdom 
of  priests,  and  a  holy  nation:  These  are  the  words,  which 
thou  shall  speak  unto  the  children  of  Israel.  And  Moses 
came,  and  called  for  the  elders  of  the  people,  and  laid  before 
their  faces  all  these  words,  lohich  the  Lord  commanded 
him..^  And  thus  it  was  indeed  fact,  as  the  prophet  represents, 
that  God  did  not  speak  unto  them,  nor  command  them  in  that 
day,  concerning  sacrifices  or  burnt  offerings;  I  might  add,  nor 
concerning  the  not  being  guilty  of  idolatry,  of  murder,  theft, 
or  any  other  wickedness;  but  this  thing  he  then  commanded 
them,  saying.  Obey  m,y  voice,  and  ye  shall  be  my  people. 
For  the  covenant  was  not  limited  to  particular,  or  to  any  set 
of  precepts,  but  it  was  a  general  engagement  to  obey  God's 
voice  indeed,  and  to  do  and  perform  all  the  statutes,  and  judg- 
ments, and  laws,  which  God  should  think  fit  to  give  them. 
When  Jeremiah  prophesied,  the  Jews  were  guilty  of  the 
highest  abominations;'^  and  yet  they  came  regularly  to  the 
worship  at  the  temple,  but  without  a  reformation  of  their 
lives.''  Hereupon  the  prophet's  message  to  them  was,  that  if 
they  continued  in  this  course,  they  might /??</  their  burnt  of- 
ferings to  their  sacrifices,  and  eat  their  flesh  f  they  might 
even  break  through  and  not  pretend  to  observe,  the  legal  in- 
stitutions for  their  burnt  offerings;^  for  that  God  would  not 
accept  them  for  an  exact  performance  of  one  part  of  his  law 

4  Jerem.  vii,  22.  s  Exod.  xix,  3,  4,  5,  6,  7. 

6  Jerem.  vii,  8,9.  7  Ver.  10.  s  y^^._  21. 

9  The  law  of  the  burnt  offering  was,  that  none  of  it  was  to  be  eaten,  but  the 
whole  burnt  and  consumed  upon  the  altar,  so  that  if  the  Jews  had  done  what 
the  prophet  bids  them  ver.  21,  they  had  acted  contrary  to  the  law  for  the 
burnt  offering  \  and  his  direct  nig  them  so  to  do  is  only  hinting  to  them,  that 
It  was  of  no  moment  to  be  exact  in  their  sacrifices,  without  amending  their 
lives. 


104  SACRED  AND  PROFANE  BOOK  XI. 

only,  when  what  he  required  of  them  was  to  obey  his  voicc^ 
and  to  walk  in  all  the  ways  that  he  had  commanded  them.^ 
Thus  the  design  of  Jeremiah,  in  the  words  before  us,  appears 
evidently  to  be,  not  to  suggest  to  the  Jews  that  burnt  ofierings 
and  sacrifices  were  originally  no  part  of  their  religion ;  but  to 
remonstrate  to  them,  that  sacrifice  and  offering  was  but  one 
part,  and  that  a  regularity  of  their  lives  and  manners  was  an- 
other; and  that  a  due  care,  not  of  one  or  either,  but  of  both 
these  parts  of  their  duty,  was  enjoined,  in  the  general  com- 
mand given  to  them,  to  obey  God's  voice  in  order  to  be  his 
people.  There  remains  to  be  considered,  3.  A  passage  in 
Ezekiel.^  Ezekiel  represents,  that  God  gave  the  Jews,  first 
his  statutes  and  his  judgm,ents,  which  if  a  man  do,  he  shall 
even  live  i7i  themf  and  afterwards,  because  they  had  not 
executed  these  judgments,  but  despised  his  statutes,  that 
therefore  he  gave  them  statutes  that  were  not  good,  and 
judgments  whereby  they  should  not  live.*  The  former  of 
these  statutes  and  judgments  are  said  to  be  the  moral  law;  and 
the  commands  of  the  ritual  law  are  supposed  to  be  the  latter.* 
But  I  would  observe,  1.  That  whatever  the  statutes  were, 
which  are  thus  said  to  have  been  not  good  whatever  were  the 
judgments,  ivhereby  they  should  not  live ;  it  appeared  evi- 
dently from  the  prophet,  that  they  were  not  given  to  that 
generation  of  men,  who  received  the  ritual  law;  and  conse- 
quently the  ritual  law  could  not  be  any  part  of  these  statutes. 
The  prophet  remarks,  that  the  Israelites,  after  receiving  the 
law,  rebelled  against  God  in  the  wilderness;^  that  God  had 
said,  he  would  pour  out  his  fury  upon  them  to  destroy  them  ;' 
but  that  for  his  name's  sake  he  had  not  executed  this  venge- 
ance;* yet,  that  he  did  determine  not  to  bring  them  into  the 
land  of  Canaan,^  though  his  eye  had  spared  them  from  de- 
stroying and  making  an  end  of  them.^  Thus,  in  five  verses, 
he  sums  up  what  had  happened  in  God's  dispensations  to  the 
Israelites,  from  the  giving  of  the  law  unto  the  punishment  of 
their  misbehaviour  at  the  return  of  their  spies  out  of  Ca- 
naan f  during  which  interval,  how  oft  did  they  provoke 
GoD?^  yet  many  a.  time  turned  he  his  anger  away,  and  did 
not  stir  up  all  his  wrath  ;'*  until  at  length,  though  his  eye 
spared  them,^  and  he  would  not  kill  all  the  people  as  o tie 
manf  which  had  indeed  been  to  destroy  and  7nuke  an  end 
of  them  in  the  wilderness ;''  yet  he  lifted  up  his  hand,  that 
he  would  not  bring  them  into  the  land  which  he  had  given, 
them,^  but  denounced  against  them,  that  all  those  who  had 


i  Jer.  vii,  23, 

1  Ver.  '24,  25. 

5  Spi-ncer  de  Leg'ib.  lleb.  lib. 

6  Ezek.  XX,  13. 
9  Ver.  15. 

a  Psalm  Ixxvili,  40. 
«  Num.  xiv,  IS. 


2  Ezek.  XX, 

,10. 

3  Ver.  11. 

c 

.  1,  sec.  2, 

c.  14, 

sec 

.3. 

7 

Ibid. 

8  Ver.  14. 

1 

Ver.  17. 

.2  Numb.  xiv. 

4 

Ver.  38. 

'5  Ezek.  XX, 

17. 

' 

Eaek.  XX, 

\7. 

«  Ver.  15. 

BOOK  XI.  HISTORY  CONNECTED,  105 

seen  his  glory  and  his  tniracUs,  and  had  tempted  him  now 
ten  times,  and  not  hearkened  to  his  voice,  should  surely  not 
see  the  land,  hni  fall  in  the  wilderness;  but  that  their  little 
ones  should  be  brought  into  itJ^  After  this,  the  prophet 
proceeds  to  relate  what  happened  to  their  children;  that  God 
said  unto  them.  Walk  ye  not  in  the  statutes  of  your  fathers 
— but  ivalk  in  my  statutes,  and  keep  my  judgments,  and  do 
them}  But  the  children  rebelled  against  God,^  and  because 
they  had  not  executed  his  judgments,  but  had  desjiised  his 
statutes,  therefore  he  gave  them  statutes  that  were  not 
good,  and  judgments  whereby  they  should  not  live?  Thus 
it  must  be  undeniably  plain,  that  the  prophet  could  not,  by 
the  statutes  not  good,  mean  any  part  of  the  ritual  law;  for 
the  whole  law  was  given  to  the  fathers  of  those,  of  whom  the 
prophet  now  speaks;  but  these  statutes  were  not  given  to 
the  fathers,  but  to  their  descendants.  2.  If  we  go  on,  and 
compare  the  narrative  of  the  prophet  with  the  history  of  the 
Israelites,  we  shall  see  farther  that  statutes  and  judgments 
not  good  are  so  far  from  being  any  part  of  Moses's  law,  that 
they  were  not  given  earlier  than  the  times  of  the  judges.  On 
the  first  day  of  the  eleventh  month  of  the  fortieth  year  after 
the  exit  from  Egypt,-*  Moses,  after  he  had  numbered  the  peo- 
ple in  the  plains  of  Moab,  by  Jordan  near  Jericho;^  and  found 
that  there  was  not  left  a  man  of  those,  whom  he  had  almost 
forty  years  before  numbered  in  the  wilderness  of  Sinai,  save 
Caleb  and  Joshua,^  by  the  command  of  God  made  a  covenant 
with  the  Israelites  in  the  land  of  Moab,  besides  the  covenant 
which  he  made  with  them  in  Horeb.^  The  fathers,  who  had 
so  often  provoked  God,  were  now  all  dead,  and  here  it  was, 
that  God  said  unto  their  children,  Walk  ye  not  in  the  sta- 
tutes of  your  fathers,  neither  observe  their  judgments,  nor 
defile  yourselves  ivith  their  idols — but  walk  in  my  statutes, 
and  keep  my  judgments  and  do  them?  Here  it  was  that 
God  commanded  them,  not  to  be,  as  their  fathers,  a  stub- 
born and  rebellious  generation,  but  to  set  their  hearts 
aright,  and  to  have  their  spirits  stedfast  ivith  God.^  For 
this  was  the  purport  of  what  Moses  gave  in  charge  to  them, 
that  they  might  teach  their  children  the  same,  that  it  might 
be  well  with  them,  and  that  they  and  their  children  might 
hear,  and  learn  to  fear  the  Lord  their  God,  as  lo72g  as  they 
lived  in  the  land,  ivhither  they  were  going  over  Jordan  to 
possess  it.^  We  do  not  find,  but  that  from  this  time  to  the 
death  of  Moses,  the  Israelites  were  punctual  in  observing 
what  he  commanded;  and  after  Moses  was  dead,  they  served 
the  Lord  all  the  days  of  Joshua,  and  all  the  days  of  the 


3  Num.  xiv.  I  Ezek.  xx,  IS,  19.  2  Xtv.  31. 

3  Ver.  21,  25.  4  Dent,  i,  3.  ^  tsj-q.-i,.  xxvi. 

6  Ver.  64,  65.  ■?  Deut.  xxix,  1.  >*  Ezek.  xx,  18,  19. 

*  Psalm  Ixxviii,  8.  >  Deut.  xxxi,  12,  13. 

Vol.  in.  0 


106  SACRED  AND  PROFANE  BOOK  XI. 

elders  that  over-lived  Joshua.^  But  when  all  that  genera- 
tion were  gathered  unto  their  fathers,  then  the  cliildren  of 
Israel  did  evil  in  the  sight  of  the  Lord,  and  folloiced  other 
gods,  of  the  gods  of  the  people,  that  tvere  round  about  them, 
and  provoked  the  Lord  to  anger,  and  served  Baal  and 
^dshtaroth  f  so  that  here  the  scene  opens,  of  which  Moses 
had  forewarned  them,"*  and  to  which  Ezekiel  alkides;*  and 
accordingly  what  Ezekiel  mentions  as  the  punishments  of 
these  wickednesses,''  began  now  to  come  upon  them.  The 
prophet  remarks,  that  God  said,  he  would  pour  out  his  fury 
upon  them,  and  accomplish  his  anger  against  them  f  and 
agreeably  hereto  we  find,  that  the  anger  of  the  Lord  was 
hot  against  Israel,  and  he  delivered  them  into  the  hands 
of  spoilers  that  spoiled  them,  and  he  sold  thetn  into  the 
hands  of  their  enemies  round  about ;  so  that  they  could 
not  any  longer  stand  before  their  enemies.  Whithersoever 
they  went  out,  the  hand  of  the  Lord  tvas  against  them  for 
evil;  as  the  Lord  had  said,  and  as  the  Lord  had  sworn 
unto  them.^  The  prophet  observes,  that  nevertheless  God 
withdrew  his  hand  ;^  and  did  not  proceed  entirely  to  extirpate 
them  ;  and  thus  the  historian — Nevertheless  the  Lord  raised 
up  judges  which  delivered  them.^  Many  times  indeed  did 
he  deliver  them,  but  they  went  on  to  provoke  him  with  their 
behaviour;  so  that  he  determined,  for  their  transgressing  his 
covenant,  and  not  hearkening  unto  his  voice,  that  he  would 
not  henceforth  drive  out  any  from  before  tlicm,  of  the  nations 
which  Joshua  left  when  he  died.^  Hereby  the  Israelites  be- 
came mingled  with  the  heathen,^  or,  as  the  prophet  expresses 
it,  they  were  scattered  a?nong  the  heathen,  and  dispersed 
through  the  countries  ;*  they  had  not  a  contiguous  and  united 
possession  of  the  whole  land,  but  among  the  CanaaniteSy 
Hittites,  and  Amoyntes,  and  Perizzites,  and  Hivites,  and 
Jebusites.^  Thus  what  preceded  the  giving  tlie  statutes  that 
were  not  good,  brings  us  down  to  the  days  of  the  Judges  ; 
and  therefore  these  statutes  were  not  given  earlier  than  these 
times.  But,  3.  Let  us  examine  what  these  statutes  and  judg- 
ments really  were,  and  when,  and  how,  God  gave  them  to  the 
Israelites;  and  in  order  hereto  let  us  observe,  1.  That  God 
does  in  nowise  give  these  statutes  and  judgiDcnts  the  appella- 
tion by  which  he  called  the  appointments  he  had  made  and 
designed  for  his  people.  Of  these  he  says,  I  gave  them  my 
statutes,  and  shelved  them  my  Jiidgmentsf  these  were  in- 
deed God's  laws,  intended  for  the  use  and  observance  of  his 


2  JosViua  xxiv,  31;  Judges  ii,  7.  ^  Ver.  10,  11,  12,  : 

*  Ueiit.  xxxi,  29.  ^  Ezek.  xx,  21. 

s  Ibid.  ■^  Ibid.                                  8  Judges  ii,  14,  15, 

^  Kzck.  XX,  22.  '  Judges  ii,  16. 

2  Judges  ii,  20,  21  ^  Psalm  cvi,  35. 

*  Ezek.  XX,  23.  «  Judges  iii,  5. 

*  Ezek.  XX,  11. 


BOOK  XI.  HISTORY  CONNECTED.  107 

people;  but  of  the  statutes  not  good,  zxiiii  judgments  whereby 
they  should  not  live,  he  says,  I  gave  them  also  statutes  (not 
my  statutes,)  and  judgments  (not  my  judgments,)  whereby 
they  should  not  live  ;'^  so  that  these  statutes  and  judgments 
•\\&Yft  not  God's  statutes  or  God's  judgments,  though  they  are 
said  to  have  been  given  by  him.  2.  But  the  26  th  verse  sug- 
gests, that  in  giving  them  these  statutes  and  judgments  God 
polluted  them  in  their  gifts,  in  that  they  caused  to  pass 
through  the  Jire  all  that  openeth  the  womb,  that  he  might 
make  them  desolate.  What  the  prophet  here  means  is  fully 
suggested  by  himself  in  another  place.  Thou  hast  slain  my 
children,  and  delivered  them,  to  cause  them  to  pass  through 
the  Jire  for  thetn?  The  fact  was,  they  had  taken  their  sons 
«;i(/ their  daughters,  and  sacrificed  them  to  be  devoured;^ 
or,  as  the  Psalmist  represents  it,  they  shed  innocent  blood, 
even  the  blood  of  their  sons  and  of  their  daughters,  whom 
they  sacrificed  unto  the  idols  of  Canaan  ;^  and  the  institu- 
tions, which  directed  such  performances,  were  the  statutes 
not  good,  were  the  judgments,  whereby  they  should  not 
live;  for  these  fully  answer  to  the  prophet's  account.  They 
polluted  those,  who  used  them,  in  their  gifts ;  by  observing 
them  the  land  was  jyolluted  ivith  blood,  and  the  people  de- 
filed loith  their  own  works  f-  and  they  intended  to  make 
them  desolate,  by  the  destruction  of  their  offspring.  And 
God  may  be  said  to  have  given  them  these  statutes,  cither 
Ijecause  he  gave  them  tip  to  their  own  hearts'  lusts,  to  walk 
in  their  own  counsels ;^  to  learn  these  practices  from  their 
heathen  neighbours:  thus  God  is  said  to  have  hardened  Pha- 
raoh's heart,^  when  Pharaoh  really  hardened  his  own  heart;* 
and  in  like  manner  to  have  given  a  lying  spirit  in  the  moutlx 
of  Ahab's  prophets,^  when  in  fact  they  prophesied  out  of  their 
own  hearts;^  and  followed  their  own  spirit,  when  they  had 
seen  nothing;^  in  which  sense  the  Chaldee  paraphrast  took 
the  passage  of  Ezekiel:^  or,  more  emphatically,  God  may  be 
said  to  have  given  them  these  statutes,  because  for  their  pun- 
ishment he  delivered  them  into  the  hands  of  their  enemies, 
and  empowered  those  who  hated  them  to  rule  over  them.' 
These  their  enemies  might  set  up  their  abominations  amongst 
them,  and  make  Israel  to  sin,  as  their  own  wicked  kings  did 
afterwards  in  divers  reigns.  They  might  give  them  statutes 
such  as  those  of  Omri  \^  and  by  their  power  over  them,  in- 


"  Ezek.  XX,  25.  «  Ezek.  xvi,  21.  9  Ver.  20. 

'  Psalm  cvi,  38.  2  Ver.  38,  39.  =»  Psalm  Ixxxi,  12, 

*  Exod.  iv,  21 ;  vii,  3;   ix,  12  ;  X,  1,  20,  27;  xi,  10,  &c, 

5  Exnd.  vii,  13,  22;  viii,  15,  19,  32;  ix,  7,  34  ;  see  vol.  ii,  b.  ix, 

^'  2  Cliron.  xviii,  22,  7  Ezek.  xiii,  2,  »  ygr,  3. 

9  Projeci  eos,  et  tradidi  eos  in  maiuim  inimicoriim  suorum,  et  post  concu- 

piscentiam  suam  insipientem  abieriint,  et  fecerunt  decreta  non  recta,  et  lege-- 

in  quibiis  non  vivetis,     Targ,  Jonalli.  in  loc 
»  Psalm  cvi,  41.  -  Micah  vi,  16. 


108  SACRED  AND  PROFANK        BOOK  XI. 

God  may  in  a  strong  sense  be  said  to  have  given  them  these 
statutes,  by  his  giving  their  enemies  power  to  impose  them 
upon  them.  I  have  now  fully  considered  this  passage  of  Eze- 
kiel,  and,  perhaps,  have  been  too  large  upon  it ;  but  I  was 
willing  to  clear  it  as  distinctly  as  I  was  able,  because  great 
stress  has  been  laid  upon  it.  Dr.  Spencer  imagined,  that  this 
text  alone  was  sufficient  to  support  his  hypothesis;  but  I  think, 
if  what  has  been  offered  be  fairly  considered,  no  honest  writer 
can  ever  cite  it  again  for  that  purpose.  However,  that  I  may 
leave  no  seeming  objection  to  any  part  of  what  I  have  offered, 
I  would  farther  take  notice: 

I.  Dr.  Spencer  imagines,  that  the  26th  verse  of  the  xxth 
chapter  of  Ezekiel,  which  we  render,  I  polluted  them  in 
their  own  gifts,  in  that  they  cansed  to  pass  through  the 
Jire  all  that  openeth  the  ivomb,  that  I  might  tnake  them 
desolate,  refers,  not  to  their  causing  their  children  to  pass 
through  the  fire,  to  the  idols  of  Canaan,  as  I  have  above  taken 
it;  but  he  supposes  it  rRlates  to  ring's  rejecting  the  first-born 
of  the  Israelites  from  the  priesthood,  and  appointing  the  tribe 
of  Levi  to  thy  sacred  offices  in  their  stead. ^  He  would  trans- 
late the  verse  to  this  purport:  I  pronounced  them  polluted 
in  their  gifts,  i.  e.  unfit  to  offer  me  any  oblations,  in  that  I 
passed  hy  all  that  openeth  the  womb,  in  order  to  humble 
them,  that  they  might  knoiv  that  I  am  the  Lord.  I  answer, 
this  cannot  be  the  meaning  of  the  text.  For  the  Levitical 
priesthood  was  instituted,  as  I  have  remarked,  in  the  days  of 
the  fathers;  but  the  prophet  here  speaks  of  something  done  in 
the  days,  not  of  the  fathers,  to  whom  the  law  was  given,  but 
of  their  children,  of  a  generation  that  arose  after  the  appoint- 
ing the  Levites  to  the  sacred  offices,  and  therefore  cannot  be 
here  supposed  to  speak  of  that  appointment.^  Farther,  the  ex- 
pression here  used,  behanabir  col  peter  racham,  does  not 
signify  to  pass  by  or  reject  the  first-born.  The  verb  nabar, 
in  the  conjugation  here  used,  does  sometimes  signify,  to  set 
apart  or  choose  f  but  cannot  have,  I  think,  the  sense  the 
learned  doctor  would  here  give  it.  Maas  end  is  the  Hebrew- 
verb  for  to  reject,'^  and  would  most  probably  have  been  the 
word  here  used,  if  rejecting  from  the  priesthood  had  been  the 
matter  intended  by  the  prophet.^ 

II.  Another  objection  to  what  I  have  offered  above  may 

3  Spenc.  de  Leg.  Heb.  lib.  i,  c.  8,  sect.  2. 

■<  Vid.  cjiia:  sup.  Clionis  est  erudiiorum  viroriim,  qui  de  prseccptis  ceremo- 
nialibus  h?ec  intellig'iuit,  et  remotiouc  Israelitarum  :ib  altari.  Ego  vero  libere 
])rofitcor  buic  opinioni  nunquum  mc  potuisse  conseiitire,  ob  rationes  non  leves 
sane  et  fiitilcs,  scd  solidas  prDegnantesque  ex  serie  orationis,  ^gaa-sac  insolentia, 
verbis  .aliis  textui  immixtis,  anleccdenlium,  consequentiumque  nexu,  et  scrip- 
turarum  aMM^x^e  pctitas.     Vitrlnga  Observat.  Sac.  lib.  ii,  c.  1. 

5  Exodus  xiu,  12. 

6  Vid.  1  Sam.  viii,  7;  x,  19;  xvi,  1 :  2  Kings  xviii,  20:  Jer.  vi,  30;  xiv,  19, 
ct  in  scxccnt,  al  l(ic. 

7  Vid,  llos.  iv,  6, 


BOOK  XI.  HISTORY  CONNECTED.  109 

arise  from  the  21st  and  23d  verses  of  the  xxth  of  Ezekiel. 
The  prophet  may  seem  in  them  to  hint,  that  God's  anger 
against  the  children  was  whilst  they  were  in  the  wilderness ; 
and  that  it  was  in  the  wilderness,  when  he  lifted  up  his  hand 
against  them,  to  scatter  them  among  the  heathen;  and  if  so, 
their  provoking  God  to  this  anger  must  have  heen  before  they 
entered  Canaan,  and  therefoi'e  not  so  late  as  the  time  wherein 
I  have  fixed  it,  I  answer,  1,  The  history  of  the  Israelites  con- 
tained in  Moses's  Books,  and  those  which  follow,  was  written 
long  before  Ezekiel  prophesied;  and  as  his  prophecy  could 
not  alter  what  had  been  done,  so  the  best  interpretation  of 
what  he  related  about  them  must  be  that  which  agrees  with 
their  history ;  and  we  must  not  invent  facts,  or  change  their 
history  to  suit  it  to  any  thing  contained  in  his  prophecy. 
And  according  to  their  history,  the  children's  provoking 
God  was  as  I  have  above  stated  it.  And  thus  the  Psalmist 
fixes  it.  After  God  had  cast  out  the  heathen  before  them^ 
and  divided  them  an  inheritance  by  line,  then  it  was  that 
the  children  teynpted  and  provoked  the  most  high  God,  and 
kept  not  his  testimonies,  but  turned  back,  and  dealt  un- 
faithfully like  their  fathers.^  2,  But  the  threatnings  of  God 
against  the  children  of  the  Israelites,  whenever  they  should 
provoke  him,  were  indeed  pronounced  to  them  by  Moses  in 
the  wilderness,  before  they  entered  Canaan.^  3.  Perhaps  this 
was  all  that  the  prophet  intended  to  express  by  the  word,  in 
the  wilderness,  in  the  verses  above-cited.  Thoi  I  said  I 
would,  pour  out  m,y  fury  upon  them,,  to  accomplish  my 
anger  against  them  in  the  wilderness.  The  words,  in  the 
wilderness,  do  not  hint  the  place  where  the  anger  was  to  be 
accomplished ;  but  rather  refer  to  anger,  and  suggest  that  the 
anger  was,  as  we  might  almost  say  in  English,  the  ivilderness- 
anger,  or  the  anger  which  God  had  threatened  in  the  wilder- 
ness. 4.  Or,  the  word,  be  midbar,  in  the  wilderness,  having 
occurred  twice  before,  after  words  the  same  that  are  used  in 
these  two  verses,^  I  suspect,  that  the  transcribers,  intent  upon 
what  they  had  a  little  before  written,  might  insert  the  word 
again  inadvertently  in  the  21st  and  23d  verses  ;  when  perhaps 
it  was  not  there  repeated  in  the  original  copy  of  the  prophecy 
of  Ezekiel. 

Moses  having  made  intercession  for  the  people,  after  the 
idolatry  of  the  golden  calf;  at  the  command  of  God,  made 
two  new  tables  of  stone,  like  unto  those  which  he  had  broken, 
and  went  up  a  second  time  with  them  to  mount  Sinai. ^  He 
continued  again  on  the  mount  forty  days  and  forty  nights, 
without  eating  bread  or  drinking  water  ;^  during  which  time 
he  wrote,  as  God  directed  him,  the  ten  commandments  upon 
the  two  tables,''  and  received  the  commands  set  down  in  the 

3  Psalm  Ixxviii,  55—57.  9  See  Deut.  xxviii,  &c. 

'  Ezek.  XX,  13—15.  2  Exod.  xxxiv. 

'  Ibid.  ver.  28.  4  ibij. 


110  SACRED  AND  PROrANt        HOOK  XI. 

xxxivth  chapter  of  Exodus.  After  the  forty  days  he  came 
down  from  the  mount  with  the  two  tables  in  his  hand  ;  and 
gathered  the  congregation  together,  and  instructed  them  in 
Avhat  had  been  appointed  to  him,^  and  required  them  to  make 
their  offerings  for  erecting  the  tabernacle.^  In  order  to  erect 
the  tabernacle,  he  had  been  commanded  to  tax  every  Israelite 
above  twenty  years  old  half  a  shekel,^  or  about  fifteen  pence 
of  our  money.^  The  sum  arising  from  the  tax  was  appointed 
to  be  for  the  service  of  the  tabernacle  f  and  we  find  that  Mo- 
ses used  it  for  the  sockets  of  the  sanctuary,  and  of  the  vail, 
and  for  hooks  for  the  pillars,  and  for  their  chapiters.^  The 
number  of  those,  who  were  taxed,  were,  603,550  men,^  and 
the  sum  arising  from  assessing  them  half  a  shekel  a  man, 
amounted  to  one  hundred  talents,  and  one  thousand  seven 
hundred  and  seventy-five  shekels  of  Jewish  money  ;^  so  that  a 
Jewish  talent  consisted  of  three  thousand  shekels  ;  for  from 
603,550  half  shekels,  or  301,775  shekels,  deduct  a  hundred 
times  three  thousand,  the  number  of  talents,  and  the  remain- 
der will  be  one  thousand  seven  hundred  and  seventy-five, 
which  is  the  number  of  remaining  shekels  over  and  above  the 
talents,  and  the  whole  sum  raised,  at  fifteen  pence  the  half 
shekel,  amounts  in  English  coin  to  £.37,721  17s.  6d.  This 
sum  therefore  Moses  first  raised  by  the  assessment,  and  after 
he  had  collected  it,  he  moved  the  people  to  a  voluntary  con- 
tribution,'' as  God  had  directed  him;^  which  brought  in  a  suffi- 
cient quantity  of  all  sorts  of  materials  that  were  wanted,  to 
the  full  of  what  they  could  have  occasion  for;**  so  that  Moses 
gave  commandment  to  proclaim  through  the  camp,  that  the 
people  should  make  no  farther  offerings.^  Bezaleel  and  Aho- 
liab,  being  nominated  by  a  special  designation  from  God  him- 
self, began  the  tabernacle,^  and  in  some  months,  towards  the 
end  of  the  year,  by  their  direction,  and  the  assistance  of  the 
hands  employed  under  them,^  the  tabernacle  and  its  appurte- 
nances, the  table  of  shew-bread,  the  priests'  garments,  the 
holy  ointments,  the  golden  candlestick,  and  all  the  vessels  and 
utensils  for  the  service  of  the  altar,  were  finished.^ 

The  marginal  reference  in  our  English  Bibles  at  Exodus 
XXX,  12,  seems  to  hint,  that  this  numbering  the  people  for  the 
raising  the  tax  for  the  tabernacle  was  the  very  same  with  thai 
mentioned  In  Numbers  i,  2 — 5.  The  number  of  the  poll  ap- 
pears indeed  in  each  place  to  be  to  a  man  the  same,^  and  this 

<"•  Exod.  xxxiv.  11—27.  ^  Chap,  xxxv,  4.  •  Chap,  xxx,  12 — 16. 

8  According  to  Brerewood,  the  shekel  was  a  silver  coin  of  about  2«.  6^/. 
In  om-  money.  Dean  Prideaux  makes  it  about  3s.  Sec  his  Connect,  vol.  i,  b. 
iii.  p.  196. 

0  F.xod,  xxx,  16.  '  Chap,  xxxvlii,  25—28. 

2  Ver.  26.  3  Ver.  25. 

4  Chap.  xxxv.  5  Ver.  2. 

^  Chap,  xxxvi,  5.  '  Ver.  6. 

8  Chap,  xxxv,  30;  xxxvi,  1.  ^  Chap,  xxxvi,  1;  xxxix,43;  xl,2. 

'  Chap,  xxxlx,  32 — 43.  ■■  Chap,  xxxviii,  26;  Numb,  i,  46. 


I500KXI.  HISTORY  CONNECTED.  HI 

possibly  might  lead  those  who  made  the  reference  to  mistake, 
and  think  that  the  people  had  been  in  truth  but  once  num- 
bered ;  but  it  is  evident,  1.  That  the  poll  mentioned  in  the  first 
chapter  of  Numbers  was  not  taken  until  the  first  day  of  the 
second  month  of  the  second  year  after  the  exit  from  Egypt.'^ 
3.  The  tabernacle  was  finished  a  month  earlier;  for  it  was 
erected  on  the  first  day  of  the  first  month.'*  The  poll  taken 
for  raising  the  assessment  was  before  the  tabernacle  was 
finished;  for  the  silver,  which  the  assessment  raised,  was  ap- 
plied to  the  making  some  parts  of  the  tabernacle;^  so  that  the 
poll  for  the  assessment  must  have  preceded  at  least  above  a 
month  earlier  than  that  vvhicli  is  mentioned  in  the  first  chapter 
of  Numbers.  4,  I  imagine  it  was  some  months  earlier;  for 
surely  the  numbering  and  assessing  the  people  preceded  the 
free  offering  of  those  who  were  vvilling,*^  and  was  therefore 
before  the  workmen  began  the  tabernacle.  For  when  the 
persons  employed  in  the  work  of  the  tabernacle  found,  that 
the  free  offerings  had  supplied  as  much  of  all  sorts  of  mate- 
rials as  were  necessary,  it  was  proclaimed  through  the  camp, 
that  no  one  should  offer  any  more;^  and  therefore  had  these 
voluntary  offerings  been  made  before  the  assessment,  the  as- 
sessment would  have  been  superfluous;  but  we  find  that  it 
was  not  so,  by  the  use  made  of  the  silver,  which  came  in  from 
it.^  I  therefore  think  it  most  probable,  that  Moses  first  raised 
the  assessment,  then  ordered  the  free  will  offering,  and  when 
the  materials  were  collected  he  delivered  them  to  the  work- 
men, and  appointed  them  to  begin  the  tabernacle.^  Now  if 
he  proceeded  thus,  the  poll  mentioned  in  the  first  chapter  of 
Numbers  was  near  six  months  later  than  this  numbering  and 
assessing  the  people ;  for  the  tabernacle  was  probably  about 
five  months  in  making,  and  the  poll  in  Numbers  i  was  taken 
a  month  after  finishing  and  erecting  the  tabernacle  as  above. 
But  it  may  seem  very  odd,  that  two  different  polls  of  one  and 
the  same  people,  taken  thus  at  two  diff'erent  times,  should 
agree  exactly  to  a  man ;  one  would  rather  imagine,  that  in  a 
growing  people,  the  number  of  deaths  of  the  aged  could  not 
answer  to  the  advance  of  young  persons  to  the  age  they  were 
polled  at;  but  that  in  the  space  of  one  or  of  six  or  seven 
months,  there  must  be  a  considerable  variation  in  so  great  a 
company  as  the  camp  of  the  Israelites.  And  if  we  duly  at- 
tend to  it,  we  find  this  was  the  fact  in  the  case  before  us.  The 
number  of  men  indeed  in  each  poll  is  the  same  exactly,  there 
being  603,550  men  in  each  of  them  ;^  but  then  the  same  per- 
sons were  not  allowed  to  be  taken  down  in  both  the  polls.  To 
the  first  poll  came  all  the  Israelites  from  twenty  years  old  and 

3  Numb,  i,  1.  4  Exod.  xl,  17. 

!•■  Chap,  xxxviii,  27,  28.  6  Chap,  xixvi,  3. 

'  "^'er.  6.  8  Chap,  xxxviii,  27,  28 

9  Ch.ip  xxxvi,  3. 

'  Exod.  xxxviii,  26  :  Numb,  i,  46. 


112  SACRED  AND  PROFANE        BOOK  XI. 

upwards  ;2  but  in  the  second  poll  the  Levites  were  not  num- 
bered.^ When  the  first  poll  was  taken,  I  say,  all  the  Israelites 
were  numbered,  no  tribe  excepted;  for  the  Levites  were  not 
then  separated  from  the  congregation;^  but  at  the  taking  the 
second  poll,  the  Levites  were  to  be  numbered  by  themselves, 
and  in  another  manner/  And  thus  at  taking  the  first  poll,  the 
whole  camp,  Levites  included,  consisted  of  603,550  men,  of 
and  above  twenty  years  old.*'  At  the  second  poll  the  camp 
consisted  of  the  like  number  of  603,550  men,^  of  the  age 
above-mentioned,  without  any  Levites  in  the  computation ;  so 
that  as  many  persons  were  grown  up  to  the  age  of  twenty 
years  in  the  space  of  time  between  taking  the  two  polls,  as 
the  number  of  Levites  of  twenty  years  old  and  upwards  at  the 
first  poll  amounted  to,  supposing,  what  I  think  may  be  al- 
lowed, that  no  one  person  died  in  the  camp  in  this  interval.^ 

On  the  first  day  of  the  first  month  of  the  second  year  after 
the  departure  out  of  Egypt,  /.  e.  about  the  middle  of  our 
March,  A.  M.  2514,  Moses  reared  up  the  tabernacle,  and 
placed  the  ark  in  it,  and  hung  up  the  vail,  and  put  the  table  of 
shew-bread  in  its  place,  and  set  the  bread  in  order  upon  it, 
and  put  the  candlestick  in  its  place,  and  lighted  the  lamps, 
and  placed  the  golden  altar  of  incense  in  the  tent  before  the 
vail ;  and  he  burnt  sweet  incense  thereon,  and  set  up  the  hang- 
ing at  the  door  of  the  tabernacle,  and  set  the  laver  in  its  place, 
and  reared  up  the  court  round  about  the  tabernacle  and  the 
altar,  and  set  up  the  hanging  of  the  court  gate.  This  is  what 
Moses  is  represented'^  to  have  done  this  day:^  and  all  the 
parts  of  the  tabernacle  being  ready  to  be  put  together,  and  the 
ark  and   altar   completely   finished,    fit  lor  their  respective 

-  Exod.  XXX,  14.  _  3  Numb,  i,  47. 

■»  The  separation  of  the  Levites  was  at  taking  the  second  poll.  Numb,  iii,  6. 
God  having  directed  them  not  to  be  numbered  in  it.    Chap,  i,  48,  49. 
5  Numb,  i,  48;  ii,  33.  ^  Exod.  xxxviii,  26.  "  Numb,  i,  46. 

8  If  we  consider  the  whole  body  of  the  Israelites  as  under  the  protection  of 
a  particular  providence,  and  in  hopes,  each  person  for  himself  and  children,  of 
living  to  go  into  the  promised  land  :  if  we  add  to  this,  that  sickness  and  an 
early  death  were  not  frequent  in  these  ages,  but  were  thought  judgments  for 
p.irticular  sins  ;  see  vol.  ii,  b.  ix;  Numb,  xxvii,  3,  it  will  not  be  hard  to  ima- 
g.ne  that  five  or  six  months  might  pass  without  a  death  in  the  camp.  And 
if  we  farther  reflect,  that  the  younger  part  of  the  camp  were  so  numerous,  as 
h\  about  eight  or  nine  :md  thirty  years  to  grow  up  into  a  body  of  601,730  men 
of  twenty  years  old  and  upwards,  without  the  Levites,  and  without  any  of  the 
persons  that  were  now  twenty,  except  Joshua  and  Caleb,  to  be  numbered 
amongst  them.  Numb,  xxvi,  31—64,  it  may  not  seem  improbable  that  tiie  per- 
sons at  this  time  near  twenty  years  old,  but  not  completely  so,  should  be  suf- 
ficient to  afford  in  five  or  six  months  an  addition  to  the  camp,  not  only  equal  to 
the  number  of  Levites  of  twenty  years  old  and  upwards,  who  were  taken  from 
it,  .ind  who  were,  1  conceive,  in  number  not  above  eight  or  ten  thousand  (see 
Numbers  iv,  48,)  but  aiso  to  a  farther  number  of  aged  men,  if  any  such  must 
h2  supposed  to  have  died  in  this  interval. 

9  Exodus  xl,  17—33. 

1  What  is  mentioned  ver.  31,  32,  that  Moses  and  A.aron  and  his  sons  washed 
their  hands  and  feet  at  the  laver,  was  not  now  done ;  but  at  such  times  as 
they  went  into  the  tent  of  the  congregation,  or  approached  the  altar,  and  is 
here  set  down  only  to  tell  the  use  of  the  laver. 


BOOK  XI.  HISTORY  CONNECTED.  113 

places,  all  this  may  very  well  be  conceived  to  be  done  in  the 
space  of  time  allotted  to  it,  an  hour  or  two  before  night.  Now 
when  Moses  had  thus  raised  the  tabernacle,  God  was  pleased 
to  give  the  people  a  visible  and  miraculous  demonstration, 
that  it  was  erected  according  to  his  directions;  for  a  cloud 
covered  the  tent  of  the  congregation,  and  the  glory  of  the 
Lord  filled  the  tabernacle.^  And  this  visible  evidence  of  the 
divine  presence  continued  from  this  time,  until  the  Israelites 
had  finished  their  journeys  through  the  wilderness:  for  the 
cloud  of  the  Lord  was  upon  the  tabernacle  by  day,  and  fire 
was  on  it  by  7iight,  in  the  sight  of  all  the  house  of  Israel 
throughout  all  their  journeys ;  and  ivhen  the  cloud  was 
taken  up  from  over  the  tabernacle,  the  children  of  Israel 
went  oniuard  in  all  their  journeys.  But  if  the  cloud  were 
not  taken  up,  then  they  journeyed  not  till  the  day  that  it 
was  taken  up?  Thus  God  was  pleased  to  appoint  himself, 
as  it  were,  a  visible  dwelling  amongst  men ;  for  the  tabernacle 
was  built,  that  he  might  dwell  amongst  his  people,"*  that  there 
might  be  a  known  and  determined  place,  where  he  would  at 
all  times  vouchsafe  tn  meet  them  and  commune  with  them,* 
and  give  them  a  sensible  evidence  of  his  being  nigh  unto  them 
in  all  things,  that  they  might  have  occasion  to  call  upon  him 
for;^  and  this  was  the  first  structure  which  was  erected  in  the 
world  for  the  purposes  of  religion.^  The  Israelites  had  a 
most  strict  charge  to  destroy  utterly  all  the  places,  wherein 
the  nations  of  Canaan  had  served  their  gods,  whether  they 
were  upon  the  high  mountains,  or  upon  the  hills,  or  under 
green  trees?  But  we  do  not  find,  that  they  had  any  building 
to  erase;  rather  all  they  had  to  do  was  to  overthrow  their 
altars,  to  break  their  pillars,  to  cut  down,  and  to  burn  their 
groves  with  fire,  to  hew  down  the  graven  images  of  their 
gods,  and  to  destroy  the  names  of  them  out  of  the  place 
where  they  had  erected  them.^  In  after  times,  when  houses 
were  built  for  the  idolatrous  worship,  we  find  express  mention 
of  the  demolishing  them,  by  the  persons  who  engaged  in  re- 
forming the  people.  Thus  Jehu  brake  down  the  house  of 
Baal,^  as  did  Jehoiada  in  like  manner  ;2  and  the  Israelites 
would  unquestionably  have  been  as  expressly  commanded  to 
demolish  such  structures,  had  there  been  any,  when  they  en- 
tered Canaan  :  the  heathen  nations  had  no  thought  of  building 
houses  to  their  gods,  until  after  the  Israelites  had  their  taber- 
nacle. 

When  the  glory  first  covered  the  tabernacle,  Moses  could 
not  enter  into  it,  because  the  cloud  abode  thereon,  and  the 


2  Exod.  xl,  54.  3  Ver.  36,  37,  38;  see  Numb,  ix,  15—23. 

4  Chap.  XXV,  8.  6  Cliap.  xxv,  22;  xxix,  43—45. 

6  Deut.  iv,  7-  7  See  vol.  ii,  b.  viii. 

s  Dent,  xii,  2.  9  Ver.  3;  vii,  5 ;  Exod.  xxxiv,  13;  xxiii,  2  i. 

1   2  King.s  X,  27.  2  2  Kings  si,  18;  2  Cbron,  xxiii,  17. 

Vol.  Ill,  P 


114  SACRED  AND  PROFANE  BOOK  XI, 

glory  of  the  Lord  filled  it;^  and  it  continued  to  do  so  most 
probably  for  some  days,  durins;  whicii  the  Lord  called  unto 
Moses,  and  spake  unto  him  out  of  the  tabernacle  of  the  con- 
gregation* and  delivered  to  him,  in  an  audible  voice,  the 
several  laws  recorded  in  the  first  eight  chapters  of  Leviticus: 
after  receiving  which,  Moses  proceeded  to  anoint  the  taber- 
nacle, the  altar,  and  all  its  vessels,  and  to  consecrate  Aaron 
and  his  sons  to  the  priests'  offices.*  Aaron  first  officiated  as 
high  priest  on  the  eighth  day  after  the  beginning  of  his  con- 
secration,'' and  his  consecration  might  be  begun  on  the  fifth 
day  of  the  month;  so  that  he  might  enter  upon  his  ministry 
on  the  twelfth.  We  cannot  suppose  his  consecration  sooner, 
allowing  a  due  space  of  time  for  the  giving  and  receiving  and 
recording  the  laws  above-mentioned;  nor  can  we  imagine  it 
later  upon  account  of  celebrating  the  passover,  which  was 
to  be  on  the  fourteenth,  and  which  was  not  celebrated  until 
after  the  deaths  of  Nadab  and  Abihu;  for  we  find  at  the  pass- 
over,  that  Mere  tvere  certain  men,  who  toere  defied  by  the 
dead  body  of  a  man,  that  they  could  not  keep  the  passover.' 
These  I  think  must  have  been  Mishncl  and  Elzaphan,  who 
had  carried  Nadab  and  Abihu,  from  before  the  sanctuary  out 
of  the  camp;*  so  that  their  deaths  happened  just  before  the 
passover,  on  the  very  first  day  of  Aaron's  ministration;  for 
whilst  he  was  ordering  the  bullock  and  the  ram  for  the  peace- 
offering,^  when  the  fire  came  out  from  before  the  Lord,  and 
consumed  the  burnt-offering  and  fat  upon  the  altar,^  Nadab 
and  Abihu,  two  of  Aaron's  sons,  took  each  of  them  a  censer, 
and  put  fire  therein,  and  put  incense  thereon,  and  offered 
strange  fire  before  the  Lord,  w^hich  he  commanded  them  not, 
and  there  went  out  fire  from  before  the  Lord  and  struck  them 
dead."  This  unhappy  accident  must  have  occasioned  some  in- 
terruption in  the  ministration;  Aaron  and  his  two  other  sons; 
were  undoubtedly  affected  with  it,  but  Moses  applied  to  them, 
and  required  them  to  suppress  their  grief  for  the  calamity, 
and  not  to  accompany  the  dead  bodies  out  of  the  tabernacle, 
lest  the  displeasure  of  God  should  arise  against  them.^  Aa- 
ron's heart  seems  here  to  have  almost  sunk  within  him;  and 
I  imagine,  he  would  have  taken  some  refreshment  to  support 
his  spirits  against  the  load  of  sorrow  which  now  pressed  heavy 
upon  him;  and  that  this  occasioned  the  command  now  given 
him,  Do  not  drink  ivinc,  nor  strong  drink,  thou  nor  thy 
sons  ivith  thee,  ivhen  ye  go  into  the  tabernacle  of  the  con- 
gregation, lest  ye  die  ;  it  shall  be  a  statute  for  ever  through- 
out your  generations.*     Moses  ordered  the  dead  bodies  of 

3  Exodus  xl,  34,  35.  "  Levit.  i,  1. 

5  Chap.  viii.  6  Chap,  ix,  1—8. 

■^  Numbers  ix,  6.  *  Levit.  v,  4. 

0  Chap.  IX,  18.  '  VcT.  24. 

«  Cliap.  X,  1,  2.  *  Levit.  x,  6,  T. 
*  Ver.  8. 9. 


BOOK  XI.  HISTOKY  CONNECTED.  115 

Nadab  and  Abihu  to  be  carried  out  of  the  tabernacle  and  out 
of  the  camp  ;*  and  then  called  upon  Aaron,  and  his  sons  who 
were  left,  to  finish  the  day's  service  f  but  upon  inquiry  he 
found,  that  the  sin-offering,  which  ought  to  have  been  ealeu 
by  the  priests  in  the  holy  place,^  was  burnt  and  consumed.* 
He  represented  to  the  sons  of  Aaron  their  mistake  in  this 
matter  f  but  Aaron  made  excuse  for  it,  and  alleged,  that  such 
judgments  had  been  inflicted  that  day,  as  to  give  him  reason 
to  doubt,  whether  it  might  be  proper  for  him  to  finish  the 
atonement.  Aaron  said  unto  Moses,  Behold,  this  day  have  they 
offered  their  sin-offering,  and  their  burnt  offering  before  the 
Lord,  and  such  things  have  befallen  me;  and  if  I  had 
eaten  the  sin-offering  to  day,  should  it  have  been  accepted 
in  the  sight  of  the  Lord?^  Some  of  the  commentators  re- 
present, that  Aaron  thought  himself,  upon  account  of  the  grief 
and  concern  he  was  then  under,  not  to  be  in  a  fit  disposition 
to  eat  the  sin-oflfering;^  others,  that  it  would  have  been  inde- 
corous for  him  to  have  done  it;^  but  they  do  not  consider  the 
charge  which  Moses  had  given  him :  the  Hebrew  text  sug- 
gests what  I  have  hinted  to  be  Aaron's  apology.  Jiaron  said 
unto  Moses,  Behold  this  day  have  they  offered  their  sin  of- 
fering and  their  burnt  offering  (nSto  tik  njj<ipni'*)  vattikre- 
nah  oti  caelleh,  the  verb  vattikrenah  is  the  plural  feminine^ 
and  refers  to  the  offerings;  and  what  Aaron  suggests  is,  that 
the  ministrations  already  performed  had  called  down  upon 
him  the  judgments  which  had  been  inflicted;  and  that  for  this 
reason  he  feared  they  had  profaned  the  services  of  the  day, 
■and  therefore  that  he  did  not  presume  to  go  on  to  finish  them, 
but  had  burnt  the  goat,  instead  of  reserving  it  to  be  eaten,  ac- 
cording to  the  orders,  which  he  should  have  observed,  if  their 
officiating  had  been  so  conducted,  as  to  give  him  z-eason  to 
think  it  would  have  been  accepted  in  the  sight  of  the  Lord, 
This,  indeed,  seems  a  reasonable  excuse,  and  we  find  Moses 
was  contented  with  it  ;^  and  pressed  him  no  fartlier  to  finish 
the  remaining  offices  of  that  day's  service. 

It  may  be  here  asked,  what  so  great  crime  were  Nadab  and 
Abihu  guilty  of,  that  they  paid  so  dear  a  price  as  to  lose  their 
lives  b)^  an  immediate  vengeance?  But  the  answer  is  easy; 
the  great  end  and  purpose  of  the  Mosaic  dispensation  was,  to 
separate  unto  God  a  chosen  people,  who  should  be  careful  to 
obey  his  voice  indeed,  and  who,  instead  of  being  like  other 

5  Levit.  X,  4.  c  Ver.  12—15. 

7  Chap,  vi,  26.  «  Chap,  x,  16. 

0  Ver.  17.  '  Ver.  19. 

-  They  comment  upon  the  words  thus;  Agnosco  quidem  comedendiim 
fuisse  et  cum  Ixtitia,  sed  qui  potui  Ijctari  ?  Malui  i^itur  convivium  negligere, 
quam  mccstus  inire.     Vid.  [-"ool.  Synops.  in  loc. 

3  Indecorum  fuisset  patrem  convivari  carne  victims,  in  qua  ofTerenda  duos 
filios  sublto  amiserat.     Cleric.  Comment,  in  loc. 

*  The  verb  Nip,  in  the  conjugation  liere  u.sed,  has  this  sense.  Jer.  xxxii,  2". 

»  Levit.  X,  20. 


116  SACRED  AND  PROFANE        BOOK  XI. 

nations,  following  and  practising,  as  parts  of  their  religion, 
what  men  might  invent,  set  up,  and  think  proper  and  reason- 
able, should  diligently  and  strictly  keep  to  what  God  had  en- 
joined, without  turning  therefrom  to  the  right  hand  or  to  the 
left,  or  without  adding  to  the  word  which  was  commanded 
them,  or  diminishing  ought  from  it.  But  herein  these  young 
men  greatly  failed ;  God  had  as  yet  given  no  law  for  offering 
incense  in  censers;  all  that  had  been  commanded  about  it  was, 
that  Aaron  should  burn  it  upon  the  altar  of  incense  every 
morning  and  every  evening.*  Afterwards  he  received  farther 
directions;^  so  that  these  men  took  upon  them  to  begin  and  in- 
troduce a  service  into  religion,  which  was  not  appointed;  they 
offered  ichat  the  Lord  commanded  them  not.^  Now,  if  this 
had  been  suffered,  it  would  have  opened  a  door  to  great  irregu- 
larities; and  the  Jewish  religion  would  in  a  little  time  have 
been,  not  what  God  had  directed,  but  have  abounded  in  many 
human  inventions  added  to  it.  Aaron  and  his  sons  were  sanc- 
tified to  vihiister  in  the  priests^  office,^  for  this  end,  that 
they  should  remember  the  commandments  of  the  Lord  to  do 
them,  not  that  they  should  seek  after  their  own  heart}  They 
could  not  have  taken  upon  themselves  the  offices  of  their  priest- 
hood, if  they  had  not  been  called  of  God  to  them;-  and  as 
they  were  called  of  God  to  them,  it  was  their  indispensable 
duty  to  be  faithful  to  him  that  appointed  them  in  all  his 
hoiise,^  in  every  part  of  the  dispensation  committed  to  them. 
This,  said  Moses,  is  that  which  the  Lord  spake,  saying,  I 
will  be  sanctified  in  them  that  come  nigh  me,  and  before 
all  the  people  I  loilhbe  glorified}  They  then  only  sanctified 
and  glorified  God,  when  they  dispensed  to  his  people,  as  parts 
of  his  religion,  what  he  had  commanded;  but  when  they  va- 
ried from  it,  or  performed  or  enjoined,  as  part  of  it,  what  he 
commanded  not,  then  they  assumed  to  themselves  a  power 
which  belonged  not  to  them  ;  then  they  spake  and  acted  of 
themselves,  and^e  that  in  these  points  speaketh  of  himself 
seeketh  not  God's,  but  his  own  glori/} 

God  had  directed  that  the  Israelites  should  keep  the  pass- 
over  at  its  appointed  season;''  and  accordingly  they  prepared 
for  it  against  the  fourteenth  day  of  the  month  at  even,  in  or- 
der to  observe  it  according  to  the  rites  thereof.^  But  on  the 
fourteenth  day  a  doubt  arose  about  the  persons  who  had 
touched  the  dead  bodies  of  Nadab  and  Abihu,  whether  they 
were  fit  to  keep  the  passover  ;^  Moses  inquired  of  God  about 
them,  and  received  an  order,  that  all  ])crsons  hindered  by 
such  an  accident,  or  that  were  on  a  journey,  should  keep  the 

c  Exodus  xxK,  7-  '  Levit.  xvi,  1 — 12. 

s  Chap.  X,  1.  9  Exodus  xxix,  44. 

>  Numbers  xv,  39.  -  Hebrews  v,  4. 

3  Cliup.  iii,  2.  ■»  Levit  x,  3. 

6  John  vii,  1§.  «  Numb,  ix,  1,  2. 

'■  Ver,  6.  s  Id.  ibid. 


BOOK  XI.  HISTORY  CONNECTED.  117 

passover  a  month  after  their  brethren.^  We  have  no  account 
of  any  thing  done  more,  until  the  first  day  of  the  second 
month;  so  that  we  have  here  sixteen  days  interval,  in  which 
space,  I  imagine,  the  laws  recorded  in  Leviticus,  from  the  be- 
ginning of  the  xith  chapter  to  the  end  of  that  book,  were 
given,  except  the  laws  contained  in  the  three  last  chapters ;  for 
these  were  given  to  Moses,  not  at  the  door  of  the  tabernacle 
but  upon  the  mount,^  The  son  of  Shelomith,  the  daughter  of 
Dibri,  of  the  tribe  of  Dan,  was  stoned  for  cursing  and  blas- 
pheming about  this  time.^ 

On  the  first  day  of  the  second  month,  A.  M,  2514,  Moses 
was  commanded  to  take  the  number  of  the  congregation  by  a 
poll  of  eveiy  male  of  twenty  years  old  and  upwards,^  except- 
ing the  Levites,  who  were  not  to  be  numbered."  And  in  or- 
der to  taking  this  poll,  twelve  persons  were  named  to  be 
princes  of  the  tribes  of  their  fathers;*  and  they  assembled 
their  tribes,  and  gave  in,  upon  this  first  day  of  the  month, 
each  the  names  and  number  of  the  persons  in  the  tribe  over 
which  he  w^as  set.''  After  this  Moses  received  a  command  to 
appoint  the  order,  in  w^hich  the  host  of  the  Israelites  was  to 
march  and  encamp.^  In  the  next  place  he  was  directed  to 
take  the  number  of  the  Levites;  and  to  appoint  to  their  seve- 
ral families  their  respective  services,  and  to  set  apart  the 
whole  tribe  for  the  ministry  of  the  tabernacle.^  In  the  more 
ancient  times,  the  first-born  of  every  family  was  to  be  the 
minister  of  religion;^  but  in  the  Jewish  institution  God 
thought  fit  to  dismiss  the  first-born  from  this  service,  and  to 
direct  the  Levites  to  be  dedicated  to  him,  instead  of  them.^ 
As  many  Levites  as  were  over  and  above  the  first-born  of  the 
Levites,  who,  by  being  the  first-born,  were  before  this  insti- 
tution holy  unto  the  Lord;  so  many  of  the  first-born  of  the 
other  tribes  were  dischai'ged  from  attending  upon  the  service 
of  the  tabernacle.  Accordingly,  there  being  twenty  and  two 
thousand  Levites,^  these  were  accepted  instead  of  so  many  of 
the  first-born  males  of  the  children  of  Israel.  The  whole 
number  of  the  first-born  of  the  Israelites  were  twenty-two 
thousand,  two  hundred,  threescore  and  thirteen.^  The  whole 
number  of  the  Levites  were,  of  the  sons  of  Gershon,  seven 
thousand  five  hundred  ;■*  of  the  sons  of  Kohath,  eight  thousand 
six  hundred;*  of  the  sons  of  Merari,  six  thousand  two  hun- 
dred;^ in  all  twenty-two  thousand  three  hundred;  and  yet  we 
are  told  that  there  were  two  hundred  threescore  and  thirteen 


9  Numb,  ix,  10,  11.  i  Chap   xxv,  1;  xxvi,  40;  xxvii,  34. 

2  Levit.  xxiv,  10.  3  Numb,  i,  1,  2,  .3. 
4  Numb.  1,49.  5  Ver.  4— 17. 

c  Ver.  18.  '  Numb.  ii. 

8  Cliap.  iii.  9  See  vol.  i,  b.  v. 

I  Numb,  iii,  12.  2  ver,  39. 

3  Ver.  43.  *  Ver.  22. 
■*  Ver.  28.  «  Ver.  34. 


118  SACRED  AND  PROFANE  BOOK  XI. 

of  the  first  born  of  the  children  of  Israel  more  than  the  Le- 
vites  ;^  that  is,  more  than  there  were  Levites  to  be  accepted 
instead  of  them.     But  this  difficulty  is  easy  to  be  accounted 
for;  because  many  of  the  Levites  were  the  first-born  of  their 
families,  namely,  three  hundred  of  them;  so  that  there  re- 
mained twenty-two  thousand  only,  who  were  not  first-born, 
and  might  therefore  be  accepted  instead  of  the  first-born  of 
the  other  tribes;  and  thus  we  must  understand  the  39th  verse 
of  the  iiid  chapter  of  Numbers,     %/ill  that  were  numbered  of 
the  Levites,   which  Moses  and  Aaron  numbered,  at  the 
commandment  of  the  Lord  throughout  their  families  ;  all 
the  males  from  a  month  old  and  upwards  were  twenty  and 
two  thousand.^     All  that  were  numbered,  i.  e.  in  order  to  be 
taken  instead  of  the  first-born,  were  so  many  ;  for  if  the  first- 
born Levites  be  included,  if  the  sum  of  the  whole  tribe  be 
taken,  they  amount  to  three  hundred  more,  as  any  one  may 
see  by  putting  together  the  several  sums  of  the  three  families.^ 
But  there  being  three  hundred  first-born  Levites,  and  twenty- 
two  thousand  two  hundred  threescore  and  thirteen  first-born 
Israelites  of  the  other  tribes;  there  would  indeed  remain  two 
hundred  threescore  and  thirteen  first-born  more  than  there 
were   Levites  to  answer  them ;  therefore  for  these  God  or- 
dered five  shekels  of  the  sanctuary  a-piece,  to  be  taken  in 
lieu  of  each  of  them.^     The  laws  mentioned  in  the  vth,  vith, 
and  viiith  chapters  of  Numbers,  were  given  about  this  time, 
and  the  Levites  were  consecrated  to  their  ministry,  according 
to  all  that  the  Lord  had  commanded;^  and  when  all  this  was 
done,  and  the  tabernacle  hereby  fully  set  up,^  all  its  officers 
and  ministers  being  duly  appointed,  the  princes  of  the  tribes 
made  their  offerings.''     The  princes  oflfered  each  on  a  day  by 
himself;*  so  that  they  were  twelve  days  bringing  in  their  re- 
spective offerings.     The  camp  began  to  march  on  the  twen- 
tieth day  f  the  off'erings  were  therefore  over,  pi'obably,  a  day 
or  two  before  the  twentieth,  and  must  therefore  have  begun  on 
the  fifth  or  sixth  day;  and  consequently  what  I  have  men- 
tioned, as  previous  to  the  pi'inces'  offerings,  from  the  polling 
the  people  to  the  finishing  the  consecration  of  the  Levites, 
took  up  four  or  five  days.     About  the  eighteenth  day  of  the 
month,  Moses  had  two  silver  trumpets  made,^  for  calling  of 
an  assembly,^  or  to  summon  to  a  meeting  the  heads   of  the 
congregation,^  or  for  the  blowing  an  alarm  for  marching  the 
camp;'  and  on  the  twentieth  day  the  cloud  was  taken  off  from 

"  Niiml).  iii,  46.  «  Ver.  39.  '  Vcr.  22,  28,  34. 

1  The  shekel  oF  the  sanctuary  is,  as  I  liave  l)efore  computed  it,  about  two 
shillings  and  sixpence  of  ovu*  money ;  so  that  they  paid  each  man  about  twelve 
shillings  and  sixpence  for  his  redemption. 

2  Numb,  viii,  20.  "  Chap,  vii,  1. 
*  V<r  2.  5  Ver.  11. 

6  Chap.  X,  1 1 .  "  Ver.  2. 

8  Ibd.  9  Ver.  4. 

»  Ver.  5. 


BOOK  XI.  HISTORY  CONNECTED.  119 

the  tabernacle,  and  the  Israelites  prepared  to  march  in  due 
order ;^  and  by  the  direction  of  the  cloud,  they  journeyed 
three  days  tos;ether,  from  the  wilderness  of  Sinai  into  the 
wilderness  of  Paran.^  Before  they  began  their  march,  Moses 
asked  Hobab,  the  son  of  Jethro,  his  father-in-law,  to  continue 
with  them,  but  he  was  desirous  to  return  into  his  own  land, 
and  to  his  kindred.'*  Moses  was  unwilling  to  part  with  him, 
and  represented  how  serviceable  he  might  be  to  them  in  their 
travels,*  and  made  him  such  offers  as  induced  him  not  to  leave 
them  f  and  accordingly  we  find  his  posterity  settled  after- 
wards in  Canaan.^ 

Upon  the  clouds's  resting  in  the  wilderness  of  Paran,  the 
camp  being  thereby  stopped  from  marching  any  farther,  the 
Israelites  grew  uneasy,^  and  complained,  perhaps  for  not  being 
carried  directly  into  Canaan.  Their  uneasiness  was  offensive 
to  God,  and  he  destroyed  many  of  them  with  fire  from  Hea- 
ven for  it;^  but  upon  Moses's  prayer  the  fire  ceased.^  In  a 
little  time  they  murmured  at  having  nothing  to  eat  but  manna, 
and  were  very  vexatious  to  Moses  in  soliciting  him  to  obtain 
^ome  other  diet  for  them.^  Moses,  quite  tired  out  with  their 
restless  humours,  begged  earnestly  that  God  would  be  pleased, 
some  way  or  other,  to  ease  him  of  the  great  burden  which  lay 
upon  him.^  Hereupon  God  ordered  him  to  choose  seventy 
elders  out  of  the  officers,  whom  he  had  employed  over  the 
people."*  After  Moses  had  chosen  them,  God  was  pleased  to 
give  them  a  portion  of  his  spirit  to  qualify  them  for  the  em- 
ployment they  were  designed  for.*  Sixty-eight  of  the  seventy 
came  up  unto  Moses  to  the  tabernacle,  upon  being  chosen. 
But  Eldad  and  Medad,  two,  whom  Moses  had  nominated, 
seemed  desirous  to  decline  the  honour  which  was  offered 
them,  esteemed  themselves,  perhaps,  not  equal  to  the  under- 
taking, and  therefore  they  went  not  out  unto  the  tabernacle, 
but  remained  in  the  camp.''  But  God  was  pleased  to  con- 
vince them,  that  he  could  readily  give  abilities  for  any  em- 
ployment to  which  he  should  call  them;  and  therefore  he 

2  Ver.  11.  3  Ver.  12. 

*  There  appears  some  little  confusion  in  the  Scripture  accounts  of  Jethro, 
from  the  <lifterent  names  given  him  in  different  places ;  but  it  is  no  unusual 
thing  to  find  many  names  given  to  one  and  the  same  person.  From  Numbers 
X,  29,  it  appears  that  Jethro  was  called  Raguel,  and  from  Judges  iv,  11,  that 
he  was  also  called  Hobab.  He  had  a  son  also,  whose  name  was  Hobab,  Num. 
hers  X,  29 ;  but  there  is  no  room  for  a  careful  reader  to  mistake  the  one  Hobab 
for  the  other.  Some  learned  writers  have  indeed  imagined,  that  Jethro  did 
not  leave  Moses,  but  went  with  him  through  die  wilderness;  but  -Moses  says 
expressly,  that  Jethro  went  his  way  into  his  own  L.nd.  Exod.xviii,  -27.  Hobab 
indeed  went  on  with  Moses,  but  not  Hobab,  Moses's  father-m-law,  wliich  had 
been  Jethro;  but  Hobab,  the  son  of  Moses's  father-in-law,  or  the  son  of  Jethro. 

5  Numb.  X,  31.  e  Ver.  32, 

"  Judges  i,  16.  8  Numb,  xi,  1. 

9  Ibid.  I  Ver.  2. 

2  Ver.  4—6.  3  Ver.  11—15. 

4  Ver.  16.  5  Ver.  17. 

«  Ver.  26. 


120  SACRED  AND  PROFANE        BOOK  XI. 

enabled  them  to  prophesy  in  the  camp,  as  the  others  did  at 
the  tabernacle.''  Eldad  and  Medad's  prophesying  in  the 
camp  was  soon  reported  to  Moses,  and  Joshua  the  son  of  Nun 
thought  it  would  be  expedient  for  Moses  to  forbid  them  f 
supposing  it  would  lessen  Moses's  authority,  if  these  two 
men,  who,  by  their  not  coming  up  to  the  tabernacle,  might 
appear  to  have  no  commission  under  him,  should  be  thought 
to  have,  and  be  allowed  to  use  this  privilege.  But  Moses 
having  no  aim  to  his  own  glory,  remonstrated,  that  he  wished 
all  the  Lord's  people  were  prophets,  and  that  the  Lord 
would  put  his  spirit  upon  them.'^  This  would  have  truly 
eased  his  burthen;  for  if  God  would  have  thus  immediately 
revealed  his  will  to  every  Israelite,  all  Moses's  labour  would 
have  been  at  an  end,  and  the  people,  from  the  highest  to  the 
lowest,  would  all  have  known  what  they  were  to  do  as  well 
as  himself,  and  he,  not  seeking  his  own  honour,  nor  having  at 
heart  his  private  interest,  but  sincerely  desiring  to  be  faith- 
ful to  him  that  appointed  him,^  would  have  sincerely  re- 
joiced to  see  the  purpose  and  design  of  God  thus  effectually 
taking  place  amongst  his  people.  The  elders  went  down  with 
Moses  into  the  camp,^  and  God  sent  a  wind,  which  brought 
great  quantities  of  quails,^  which  the  people  took  and  dried 
and  salted  for  their  eating.'*  But  though  God  sent  them  this 
food  upon  their  impatience,  yet  he  punished  them  for  their 
mutinous  temper,*  and  by  a  plague  cut  off  those,  who  had  re- 
quired this  provision.  They  called  the  name  of  the  place 
Kibroth  Hattaavah,  because  they  buried  the  people  here  who 
lusted.*^  After  the  plague  ceased,  they  journeyed  hence  to 
Hazeroth.^ 

At  Hazeroth,  Miriam  and  Aaron  spake  against  Moses  for 
his  having  married  a  foreigner,  a  woman,  who  was  not  of  the 
children  of  his  people;  for  he  had  married  the  daughter  of 
Jethro   the   Cushite  or  Arabian.^      Moses  was  very   meek, 

7  Numb,  xi,  26.  »  Yer.  27,  28.  »  Ver.  29. 
I  Hebrews  iii,  2.                       -  Numb,  xi,  30. 

3  Numb,  xi,  31.  Our  English  version  represents  the  quails  as  having  Iain 
round  about  the  camp  as  it  were  two  cubits  (or  a  yard)  hig'h  ;  but  there  is  no 
word  in  the  Hebrew  text  tor  the  number  two.  I'lie  Hebrew  word  ainoNS 
signifies,  as  it  were  cubits  high,  expressing  no  determinate  measure,  but  in 
general  a  considerable  height.  In  like  manner  we  say,  he  thai  gathered  least, 
gathered  ten  homers,  ver.  32,  a  surprising  quantity,  if  a  homer  be,  as  is  by 
some  computed,  five  of  our  English  bushels  and  a  half.  But,  perhaps,  the 
word  we  here  render  homers,  was  not  intended  to  signify  in  this  place  the  par- 
ticular Jewish  measure  so  called,  but  should  rather  have  been  rendered  heaps 
in  general,  without  defining  the  quantity,  wliich  each  heap  contained.  It  is 
thus  used  Exod.  viii,  1 4,  and  wc  may  well  suppose  that  each  man  gathered  ten 
heaps ;  but  five  and  fifty  i)ushels  a  man  does  not  seem  a  quantity  likely  to  have 
been  gathered  by  them. 

*  This  management  of  quails,  in  order  to  preserve  them,  was  usual  amongst 
the  heathens.     Allien.  Deipnos.  lib.  ix,  c.  11. 

5  Fsalm  cvi,  15;  Ixxviii,  30,  31;  Numb,  xi,  33. 

8  Numb,  xi,  .34.  '  Ver.  35. 
f  Chap,  xii,  1 ;  See  vol.  i,  b.  iii. 


BOOK  XI.  HISTORY  CONNECTED.  121 

above  all  the  inen  which  ivere  upon  the  face  of  the  earth  f 
and  the  exceeding  goodness  of  his  temper  led  Miriam  and 
Aaron  most  warmly  to  oppose  him  upon  this  subject.  There 
appears  to  have  been  no  law  given,  which  could  directly  af- 
fect the  case  of  ]Moses.  Whether  Aaron  inferred  that  this 
marriage  was  wrong,  from  what  had  been^  enjoined  the 
priests,  thinking  Moses  obliged  in  every  respect  to  as  great 
strictness  as  they  could  be,  I  cannot  say.  However,  he  and 
Miriam  would  admit  of  no  plea  in  Moses's  favour,  but  con- 
tended that  the}-  knew  as  well  as  he  what  was  lawful,  and 
what  was  not;-  for  that  God  had  revealed  his  will  to  them  as 
to  him.  This  dispute  might  have  had  a  very  unhappy  effect 
upon  the  people;  for  If  the  persons,  whom  they  all  knew  to 
have  been  favoured  with  Immediate  revelations  from  God's 
will,  had  thus  evidently  difiered  and  contradicted  one  another 
about  it,  how  should  the  congregation  know  by  whom  to  be 
directed?  Parties  and  divisions  would  have  arisen  from  such 
contests;  but  God  was  pleased  to  interpose  upon  this  occasion. 
The  Lord  came  down  in  the  pillar  of  the  cloud  to  the  door 
of  the  tabernacle,  and  called  ^iaron  and  Miriam^  and  ob- 
served to  them,  that  he  had  never  revealed  his  will  to  either 
of  them,  or  to  any  others,  in  so  extraordinary  a  maunpr  as  he 
had  done  to  ^Nloses,"*  and  that  therefore  they  ought  to  have 
been  afraid  to  speak  against  and  contradict  him  ;^  and  in  order 
to  justify  Moses  to  the  whole  congregation,  ^Miriam  was  struck 
with  a  leprosy,  and  ordered  to  be  put  out  of  the  camp  for  se- 
ven days  ;'^  after  that,  by  Moses's  prayer  for  her,  she  was  re- 
covered.^ Upon  her  re-admission  into  the  camp,  the  Israel- 
ites removed  from  Hazeroth  further  on,  in  the  wilderness  of 
Paran.^ 

From  the  place  where  they  now  encamped,  Moses,  by 
God's  command,  sent  twelve  persons,  having  chosen  one  out 
of  each  tribe,  to  go  as  spies  into  the  land  of  Canaan,^  to  take  a 
view,  and  to  bring  an  account  of  the  land  and  its  inhabitants. 
The  twelve  persons  appointed  took  their  journey,  and  went 
over  the  land,  and  in  forty  days  returned  back  to  the  camp."- 
At  their  return,  the  congregation  was  summoned  to  receive 
their  report,^  which  as  to  the  fruitfulness  of  the  land,  was 
very  agreeable ;  but  they  represented  the  large  stature  and 
strength  of  the  inhabitants,  so  as  to  intimidate  the  people,  and 
to  induce  them  to  think  themselves  in  nowise  able  to  conquer 
it.^  The  camp  grew  into  a  great  ferment  upon  this  represen- 
tation, and  a  false  report  of  the  goodness  of  the  country  gat 
about,  and  increased  the  discontent,  notwithstanding  all  that 


9  Numb,  xii,  3.  '  I^vit.  xxi,  14.  -  Numb,  xli,  Z. 

s  A^er.  5.  «  Ver.  6-8.  ^  ibkl. 

6  Ver.  10,  14.  "  Ver.  13.  «  Ver.  16. 

9  Chap,  xiii,  2.  >  Ver. 'i  1—25.  -  Ver.  C6— 31, 
J  Ver.  27—31. 

Vol.  III.  Q 


122  SACRED  AND  PROFANE        BOOK  XI. 

Caleb,  who  had  been  one  of  the  spies,  could  offer  to  appease 
it;"*  and  at  last  such  a  spirit  was  raised  among  the  people,  that 
they  were  for  making  themselves  a  captain  to  lead  them  back 
to  Egypt/  Moses  and  Aaron  expressed  the  deepest  concern 
at  this  strange  infatuation;''  and  Caleb  and  Joshua  made  the 
utmost  efforts  to  reduce  the  camp  to  a  better  temper.  They 
remonstrated,  that  the  land  was  certainly  exceeding  good; 
that  it  was  God's  design  to  give  it  to  them ;  that  since  God 
was  for  them,  the  strength  of  the  Canaanites  against  them  was 
not  to  be  feared ;  that  to  return  to  Egypt  would  be  a  rebellion 
against  God,  who  had  so  miraculously  delivered,  preserved^ 
and  appointed  them  for  this  undertaking.''  What  they  said 
was  far  from  having  the  designed  pffect.  The  people  were 
rather  transported  by  it  to  greater  fury,  and  were  for  having 
Joshua  and  Caleb  immediately  stoned ;«  but  the  glory  of  the 
Lord  appeared  in  the  tabernacle  of  the  congregation,  in  a 
manner  visible  to  all  the  people.^  Such  an  obstinacy  as  they 
were  now  guilty  of,  was  an  exceeding  great  sin  against  God: 
however  Moses  was  admitted  to  intercede,  that  the  whole  con- 
gregation should  not  bo  destroyed.^  But  God  determined, 
that  for  this  offence,  none  of  the  persons  who  had  seen  his 
glory  and  his  miracles  done  in  Egypt,  and  had  thus  rebelled 
.igainst  him,  should  come  into  the  land  of  Canaan;^  for  their 
entrance  into  the  land  should  now  be  deferred  until  forty 
years  were  expired  from  their  exit  out  of  Egypt,  before 
which  time  all  that  generation,  who  were  twenty  j-ears  old 
and  upwards,  when  Moses  and  Aaron  numbered  them  after 
the  exit  out  of  Egypt,  except  Caleb  and  Joshua,  should  die  in 
the  wilderness,^  Moses  told  the  people  these  things,  at  the 
liearing  whereof  they  mourned  greatly.*  They  were  now 
desirous  to  attempt  to  enter  the  land ;  but  Moses  cautioned 
them  against  it,*  assuring  them,  that  God  would  not  now  give 
them  success.  However,  they  would  march;  but  the  Ama- 
lekites  and  Canaanites  smote  them  and  discomfited  them  unto 
Hormah.^  The  laws  contained  in  the  xvth  chapter  of  Num- 
bers, seem  to  have  been  given  within  the  forty  days,  when 
the  spies  were  travelling  over  the  land  of  Canaan;  about 
which  time  I  suppose  that  the  man  was  stoned,  who  gathered 
sticks  on  the  Sabbath-day.^ 

There  is  a  passage  in  a  speech  of  Joshua  and  Caleb,  upon 
which  the  Jewish  Rabbins  founded  a  most  whimsical  conceit. 
Joshua  and  Caleb  represent,  that,  as  to  the  Canaanites,  their 
defence  was  departed  from  them}  The  Hebrew  word  is  o^;* 
Tzillani,  their  shadoiv,  upon  which  the  Rabbins  thus  com- 
ment: they  say,  that  on  the  night  of  the  seventeenth  day  of 

4  Numb,  xiii,  o0--33.  *  Chap,  xiv,  4.  «  Ver.  5. 

7  Ver.  6—9.  «  Ver.  10.  9  Ibid. 

»Ver.  11— 20.  2  Ver.  22,  23.  »  Ver.  22— 38 

<  Ver.  39.  s  Ver.  41,  42, 43.  «  Ver.  44, 45 

''  Chap.  XV,  32—36.  *  Chap,  xiv,  9. 


COOK  XI.  HISTORY  CONNECTED.  123 

the  seventh  month,  God  showed  his  people  by  the  moon« 
shine,  what  should  happen  to  them  in  the  year  following.' 
They  pretended,  that  if  any  one  went  out  into  the  moon- 
shine in  that  night  in  a  proper  dress,  he  would  see  the  shadow 
of  his  body  diverse,  according  to  what  would  happen  to  him. 
The  shadow  of  his  hand  held  out  would  want  a  finger,  if  he 
was  to  lose  a  friend  that  year.  His  right-hand  would  cast  no 
shadow,  if  his  son  was  to  die;  his  left-hand,  if  his  daughter. 
If  the  person  himself  was  to  die,  then  his  shadow  would  ap- 
pear a  head,  or,  perhaps,  his  body  cast  no  shadow  at  all,  his 
shadow  being  departed  from  him.  It  would  be  trifling  to 
endeavour  to  show  that  Caleb  and  Joshua  intended  nothing 
of  this  sort.  The  use  of  the  word  shadow  for  protection  is  an 
easy  metaphor.  The  strength  of  the  Israelites  was  thought 
by  Joshua  and  Caleb  to  be  the  Lord's  being  with  them; 
under  which  consideration  they  looked  upon  the  Canaanites 
as  deserted  of  God,  and  therefore  unable  to  bear  up  against 
them.  This  was  the  whole  of  what  they  endeavoured  to  repre- 
sent to  the  people ;  but  no  expression  of  Scripture  can  be  so 
clear  and  express,  which  superstition  may  not  turn  to  fancy 
and  fable.  The  Greeks  had  a  whim  about  the  shadow  of  those 
who  entered^  the  temple  of  the  Arcadian  Jupiter,  not  alto- 
gether unlike  this  fiction  of  the  Rabbins;  and  the  Monkish 
tale,  which  some  of  our  vulgar  people  can  still  tell,  of  their 
shadow  in  the  night  of  St.  Mark's  festival,  was,  perhaps, 
derived  from  it. 

Moses  was  ordered  to  lead  the  Israelites  back  towards  the 
Red  Sea  again  f  and  after  their  unsuccessful  attempt  against  the 
Canaanites,^  they  began  their  retreat.  We  hear  but  little  more 
of  them  for  about  thirty -seven  years;  during  which  time  they 
marched  up  and  down  the  wilderness,  and  made  seventeen 
encampments,"*  from  their  leaving  Rithmah  in  the  wilderness 
of  Paran,*  to  their  coming  to  Kadesh  in  the  wilderness  of 
Zin.^  Their  being  obliged  to  make  this  retreat,  and  deferring 
their  entrance  into  Canaan,  raised  discontents  among  them, 
and  very  probably  occasioned  the  rebellion  of  Korah,  Dathan, 
and  Abiram,  which  happened  about  this  time.  Two  hundred 
and  fifty  princes  of  the  assembly  were  concerned  in  it;^  and 
many  thousands  of  the  people,  as  may  be  supposed  from  the 
number  of  those  who  perished  by  the  plague,^  were  swallowed 
up  in  the  earth,^  or  consumed  by  the  fire.*  The  heads  of  the 
conspiracy  were,  Korah  a  Levite,  Dathan  and  Abiram  the 
sons  of  Eliah,  and  On  the  son  of  Peleth,  of  the  tribe  of  Reu- 


9  Buxtoif.  Synagog.  Judiac.  cxvi,  p.  363. 

'  ©{05ro^-3-oc   pjfs-atf,    Ts;  s«  to  tk  A/sc    aCatTCV    ifj-Qt^lni    kxV    'ApiciSiav    eLtrKtm 
lyuT^Ai.     Vid.  Polyb.  Hist,  lib.  xvi.  c.  11. 
-  Numb,  xiv,  25.  s  Ver.  44,  45. 

*  Chap,  xxxiii,  19—36.  ^  Compare  xii,  16,  with  xxxiii,  18. 

«  Chap,  xxxiii,  36.  7  Numb,  xvi,  1,  2. 

«  Ver.  49.  a  Ver.  32.  '  Ver.  35 


124  SACUEU  AND  PROFANE        BOOK  XI. 

ben.  They  contended,  that  there  was  no  reason  for  so  great 
subjection  to,  and  dependance  upon  Moses  and  Aaron  ;^  that 
the  priesthood  ought  not  to  have  been  appropriated  to  Aaron 
and  his  family;  for  that  all  the  congregation  was  holy,  every 
one  of  them;  and  thchoRD  amongst  thetn?  They  remon- 
strated against  Moses,  that  he  had  brought  them  out  of  Egypt, 
a  V€ry  plentiful  country ;  that  he  had  no  real  intention  ever 
to  bring  them  into  Canaan ;  that  he  designed  only  to  carry 
them  about,  through  innumerable  difficulties,  until  he  could 
inure  them  to  servitude,  and  make  himself  altogether  a  prince 
over  tliem  j'*  that  to  deny  this  to  be  his  aim,  would  suppose 
that  the  people  had  no  eyes  to  see  the  situation  of  their  affairs, 
and  the  prospects  which  were  before  them.*  JNIoses  had  by 
express  command  from  God  denounced  to  the  congregation, 
that  not  one  of  them,  except  Caleb  and  Joshua,  should  enter 
into  Canaan ;  that  all  the  rest  Avho  were  above  twenty  years 
old,  Avlien  they  were  polled  after  coming  out  of  Egypt,  should 
die  in  the  wilderness,  and  the  younger  generation  only  should 
come  into  the  land."  This  had  put  them  all  into  so  great  a 
ferment,  that  even  a  miraculous  iutei  position  of  the  divine 
power  was  not  immediately  sufficient  to  subdue  the  spirit  of 
their  rebellion  ;  for  we  read,  that  on  the  morrow  after  the 
earth  had  swallov/ed  up  Dathan  and  Abiram  and  all  that  be- 
longed to  them,^  after  Korah  and  his  company  were  consumed 
■with  fire  from  the  Lpno,^  all  the  congregation  murmured 
against  Moses  and  against  Aaron,  and  accused  them  of  ha\- 
ing  killed  the  Lord's  people.^  But  hereupon  God  sent  a 
plague  among  them,  and  took  off  fourteen  thousand  by  it,^ 
-and  also  gave  them  a  farther  evidence  by  the  blossoming  of 
Aaron's  rod,  that  he  was  the  person  whom  God  had  appointed 
to  be  priest  for  his  people.^  After  the  punishment  of  the 
])lague,  and  the  testimony  of  the  farther  miracle  in  Aaron's 
rod,  their  opposition  ceased;^  Aaron's  rod  was  by  divine  com- 
mand laid  up  in  the -tabernacle  in  memory  of  this  miraculous 
confirmation  of  his  priesthood.*'  The  people  expressed  them- 
selves now  convinced,  that  whoever  presumed  to  inti'ude  into 
the  service  of  the  tabernacle,  would  be  pursued  by  divine 
vengeance  unto  death.*  The  laws,  mentioned  in  the  xviiith 
and  xixth  chapters  of  Numbers,  were  given  about  this  time. 

Whilst  the  Israelites  were  in  the  wilderness,  some  writers 
suppose  that  Sesostris  was  king  of  Egypt;  and  that  he  raised 
a  powerful  army,  and  conquered  a  great  part  of  the  then 
known  world.  They  suppose  him  to  be  the  son  of  Pharaoh, 
who  in  ])ursuit  of  the  Israelites  was  drowned  in  the  Red  Sea. 
Archbishop  Usher  was  of  this  opinion;'''  and  the  late  learn^'d 

'-  Numb,  xvi,  5. 
a  Vcr.  14. 
8  Ver.  35. 
^  Cliap.  xvii. 
-' Jbld.   ' 


.3    IbU. 

•I 

Ver. 

3,13. 

G  Chap,  xlv, 

2S- 

-33. 

T 

Ch-ip.  xvi, 

32. 

9  Ver.  41. 

1 

Ver. 

49. 

3  Ibid. 

4 

Ver. 

la 

«  Annals,  A, 

,  M. 

2522, 

p. 

21 

I. 

BOOK  XI.  HISTORY  CONNECTED.  125 

bishop  Cumberland  endeavours  to  support  it  J  The  substance 
of  what  he  argues  upon  the  subject  amounts  to,  1.  That  Se- 
sostris  was  the  brother  of  the  Grecian  Danaus;  and,  therefore, 
since  Danaus  is  confessed  to  have  lived  about  the  time  of  Mo- 
ses,* that  Sesostris  must  be  likewise  placed  in  the  same  age. 
2.  That  according  to  the  testimony  of  the  ancient  writers, 
Sesostris  was  the  son  of  Amenophis,  the  Pharaoh  who  was 
drowned  in  the  Red  Sea.  If  indeed  either  of  these  assertions 
can  be  supported,  Sesostris  must  be  placed  in  these  times. 
But  if  both  these  arguments  may  be  refuted,^  Aristotle's 
general  opinion,  cited  by  the  learned  bishop,  that  Sesostris 
lived  before  Minos,'^  or  ApoUonius's  supposing  that  he  planted 
colonies  in  Colchis  before  the  Argonautic  expedition,^  or  Pli- 
ny's hinting  that  he  lived  before  the  Trojan  war,  will  be  of  no 
great  weight;  for  it  is  known,  that  very  considerable  writers 
have  mistaken  the  true  time  of  the  reign  of  Sesostris.^ 

I.  Bishop  Cumberland  contends,  that  Danaus  and  Sesostris 
were  brothers ;  but  a  supposed  citation  from  Manetho,  in  Jo- 
sephus,  is  the  only  proof  of  this  fraternity.^  Manetho  is  sup- 
posed to  have  said,  that  Sesostris  was  called  ^gyptus,  and 
that  Armais  his  brother  was  Danaus.  I  must  confess,  I  suspect 
this  passage ;  for  the  words  cited  seem  not  to  be  those  of  Ma- 
netho, but  of  Josephus.'*  Josephus,  after  having  given  a  large 
citation  from  Manetho,  adds  what,  1  conceive,  he  inferred 
from  him  to  be  true.  And  I  rather  think  so,  because  nothing 
which  comes  up  to  what  is  here  cited,  appears  in  the  remains 
of  Manetho,  as  transmitted  to  us  by  either  Africanus  or  Euse- 
bius;  though  they  have  both  given  us  the  list  of  kings  cited 
by  Josephus,  and  one  of  them  some  words  of  Manetho,  from 
which  Josephus  might  probably  make  his  inference.  Africa- 
nus transmits  to  us  the  series  of  kings,  but  has  not  remarked 
any  relation  between  any  two  of  them.*  But  Eusebius  at  the 
name  of  Armes  or  Armais,  calls  him  also  Danaus,  and  records 
that  he  reigned  in  Egypt  five  years,  and  then  fled  out  of  the 
kingdom  from  his  brother  jEgyptus,  and  went  to  Greece, 
and  reigned  at  Argos;*^  so  that  from  Eusebius  it  seems  proba- 
ble, that  Manetho  had  hinted  that  Danaus  and  vEgyptus  were 
brothers.  Josephus  supposed  that  ^gyptus  and  Sesostris 
were  one  and  the  same  person ;  and  hence  concluded,  that 
Manetho  had  suggested  Danaus  and  Sesostris  to  be  so  related. 
This  seems  to  me  to  be  the  foundation  of  what  is  cited  in  and 
from  Josephus.  That  Danaus  was  indeed  the  brother  of 
iEgyptus,  may  be  proved  from  many  ancient  writers ;''  but 

'  Sanchonlatho.  sect.  4,  p.  387.  ^  See  vol.  ii,  b.  viii. 

ft  Aristot.  Pulit.  lib.  vii,  c.  10.  '   Apollon.  Argonaut,  lib.  iv. 

^  See  Pref.  to  vol.  ii.  3  Joseph,  contra.  Apion.lib.  i,  c.  l5. 

4  The  words  in  Josephus  are,  ;.«>«  yu^  oti  o  /xiv  2«S-a5-/f  i-ActKUTo  KiyvTfio;, 
'Apfxai;  ii  0  aJsApoc  au-ra  Aavao;.  &  Vid.Syncel I.  Chronograph,  p.  72. 

«-  Syncell.  Chronograph,  p.  73;  Euseb.  Chron.  p.  16. 

">  ApoUod.  lib.  ii,  c.  i ;  Chron.  Alexandrin.  Cedren.  lib.  i ;  Euseb.  inChrouic. 
•b  :  Prideaus  in  Not.  Historic,  ad  Chron,  M armor.  Ep.  ix. 


126  SACRED  AND  PROFANE  BOOK  XI. 

it  appears  evident,  from  clivers  circumstances  recorded  con- 
cerning each  of  them,  that  .^gyptus  and  Sesostris  were  not 
the  same  person.  Belus  the  son  of  Neptune  and  Libya  mar- 
ried Anchinoe  daughter  of  Nilus,  and  had  two  sons  by  her, 
iEgyptus  and  Danaus.*  Thus  it  appears,  that  these  two  per- 
sons were  brothers ;  but  if  we  pursue  the  history  of  ^gyptus, 
we  may  evidently  see  that  he  and  Sesostris  were  not  the  same 
person.  iEgyptus  had  fifty  sons,  as  Danaus  had  fifty  daugh- 
ters;" but  Sesostris  had  only  six  children.^  iEgyptus  was  in- 
deed treacherously  dealt  with  by  his  brother  Danaus,  and  so 
was  Sesostris  by  a  brother;  but  in  a  manner  very  different. 
It  is  a  known  story,  how  the  fifty  daughters  of  Danaus  were 
married,  each  of  them  to  a  son  of  ^gyptus,  and  how  all  of 
them,  except  one,  killed  their  husbands,  by  the  order  of  Da- 
naus their  father.  Thus  Danaus  attempted  to  have  his  bro- 
ther's family  extinct  f  but  the  attempt  upon  Sesostris  made 
by  his  brother,  was  of  another  sort.  At  Sesostris's  return 
home  from  his  conquests,  his  brother  invited  him,  his  wife 
and  children  to  an  entertainment,  and  fired  the  house  where 
he  received  them,  with  design  to  burn  them.'  Sesostris  en- 
joyed himself  in  Egypt  after  his  conquests  many  years  in 
peace,  and  died  in  his  own  country,  and  was  succeeded  in  his 
kino-dom  by  his  son  ;"*  but  ^Egyptus  the  brother  of  Danaus 
was  an  exile  from  Eg)'^pt  as  well  as  Danaus,  and  died  and  was 
buried  in  Achaia  in  Greece,*  and  his  only  surviving  son  Lyn- 
ceus  never  was  king  of  Egypt,  but  succeeded  Danaus  in  the 
kingdom  of  Argos,''  and  was  buried  in  that  country  in  the 
same  tomb  with  Hypermnestra  his  wife.^  Thus  JEgyptus 
and  Sesostris  were  two  different  persons,  the  circumstances  of 
whose  lives,  deaths,  and  children,  will  in  nowise  coincide, 
but  arc  very  diverse  from  one  another;  and  therefore  it  can- 
not be  conclusive  to  argue  that  Danaus  was  brother  of  Sesos- 
tris, because  Danaus  and  jEgyptus  ai'c  recorded  to  have  been 
thus  related.  Diodorus  Siculus  and  Herodotus  are  very  large 
in  their  accounts  of  Sesostris;*  and  both  minutely  mention 
the  circumstances  of  his  brother's  treachery  f  but  neither  of 
them  hint  that  Danaus  had  been  his  brother.  Danaus  lived 
about  the  time  of  Moses  ;^  and  consequently  iEgyptus  in  the 
same  age;  but  as  iEgyptus  appears  not  to  have  been  Sesostris, 
the  fraternity  between  ^gyptus  and  Danaus  can  have  no  ef- 
fect towards  proving  the  time  of  Sesostris's  reign. 

s  ApoUod.  lib.  ii.  c.  i ;  Not.  Eustath.  et  Dldymi  in  Homer.  II.  a.  ver.  42. 
"*  Id.  ibid.  Paus-in  in  Corinth,  c.  25.  '  Ilerodot.  lib.  ii,  c    107. 

-  ApoUod.  Eustath.  et  Didym.  in  loc.  su]).  citat.  I'ausan.  in  Corinthiacis. 
«  Diodor.  Sic.  lib.  i.  c.  57  ;  Ilerodot.  lib.  ii,  c.  107. 
*  nidor.  ubi  sup.  et  c.  59  ;  Ilerodot.  lib. ii,  c.  111. 
5  Pausan  in  Aciiaic.  c.  22.  "^  Id.  in  Corinthiac.  c.  1 G. 

"  Id.  ibid,  et  c.  21.  ^  Diodor.  lib.  i;  Herodot.  lib.  ii. 

9  Diodor.  lib.  i,  c.  57;  Herodot.  lib.  ii,  c.  107. 

'  See  vol.  ii,  b.  viii ;  Photii  extract,  e.  lib.  xi ;  Diodor.  Sic. ;  Photii  Bibliotli 
p.  1151. 


UOOK  XI.  HISTORY  CONNECTED.  127 

II.  Bishop  Cumberland  contends,   that  Sesostris  was  the 
son  of  Amenophis,  who  was  the  Pharaoh  that  was  drowned  in 
pursuit  of  the  Israelites  in  the  Red  Sea.     He  cites  Manetho 
and  Chffiremon  in  Josephus  to  prove  that  Amenophis  was  the 
king,  in  whose  reign  the  Israelites  went  out  of  Egypt.^    This 
Amenophis,  he  says,  was  the  father  of  Ramesses,  who  was  also 
called  ^gyptus,  and  had  Danaus  for  his  brother;  and  ^gyp- 
tus  and  Sesostris  were  the  same  person.     But  1.  Amenophis 
was  not  the  king  in  whose  reign  the  Israelites  left  Egypt. 
Josephus   indeed   remarks,   that  INIanetho  in   one   particular 
place  asserts  it;^  and  that  Chseremon  agrees  with  him  in  if 
But  then  he  remarks,  that  it  was  a  mere  fiction  of  Manetho,  con- 
trary to  what  he  himself  had  expressly  owned,*  in  other  parts 
of  his  works,  and  that  Chasremon  erred  in  agreeing  with  him 
in  it;^  so  that  the  very  authorities  upon  which  the  learned 
bishop  would  argue,  that  Amenophis,  his  supposed  father  of 
Sesostris,  had  been  the  Egyptian  king,  who  reigned  at  the 
Jewish  exit,  have  been  long  ago  refuted  by  Josephus,  the 
very  author  from  whom  the  bishop  had  them,  and  in  the  very 
place  where  he  found  them.     But,  2.  If  Amenophis  was  in- 
deed the  king  who  reigned  at  the  Jewish  exit;  if  he  was  also 
the  father  of  Ramesses,  or  jEgyptus  the  brother  of  Danaus; 
yet  as  it  appears  from  what  I  above  offered,  that  ^gyptus  the 
brother  of  Danaus  and  Sesostris  were  in  nowise  the  same  per- 
son ;  nothing  can  be  concluded  from  the  learned  bishop's  ar- 
gument to  prove  that  Sesostris  had  lived  in  these  times.  Here 
therefore  I  will  leave  this  subject,  though  it  might  be  more 
largely  refuted  in  every  particular  belonging  to  it;  but  so 
nice  a  discussion  must  surely  be  superfluous.     One  thing  I 
confess  I  am  surprised  at ;  I  greatly  wonder  that  such  learned 
and  judicious  writers,  as  the  great  authors  I  have  mentioned, 
could  ever  entertain  such  a  thought.    If  Sesostris  had  lived  in 
these  times,  and  commanded  such  victorious  armies  as  he  was 
said  to  be  master  of  would  not  the  camp  of  the  Israelites  have 
fallen  in  his  way;  or  should  we  not  have  had  him  mentioned 
among  the  hints  which  we  have  in  Scripture  of  the  Canaanitish 
nations.^  He  must  have  carried  his  forces  through  these  coun- 
tries; but  they  appear  to  have  enjoyed  an  uninterrupted  peace, 
until  Joshua  attacked  them.  But  had  the  great  Sesostris  lived 
in  these  times,  whence,  or  how  should  he  have  raised  his  ar- 
mies? When  Pharaoh  pursued  the  Israelites  to  the  Red  Sea. 
he  took  his  people  with  him,  all  his  horses  and  chariots,  and 
all  the  chariots  of  Egypt,  and  his  horsemen  and  his  army.'^' 
He  and  all  these  perished  in  the  sea.^  The  kingdom  had  been 
just  before  spoiled  of  its  treasure,^  and  every  family  weakened 
by  the  loss  of  the  first  born.^     Can  it  then  appear  probable, 

2  Sanchoniatho.  p.  398.  3  Lib.  contra  Appion,  1.  i,  c.  25. 

*  Lib.  contra  Appion.  i,  c.  32.  ^  Joseph,  ubi  sup. 

"  W.  ibid.  T  Exocl.  xiv.  6,  7,  9, 

5  Ver.  2S.  «  Chap,  xii,  3G.  >  Ver.  29,  30. 


128  SACRED  AND  PROFANE        BOOK  XI. 

that  in  such  a  deplorable  crisis  of  affairs,  a  king  of  this  coun- 
try should  attempt  and  pursue  a  variety  of  conquests  of 
foreign  nations?  Egypt  must  at  this  time  have  been  reduced 
so  low,  that  it  might  have  been  an  easy  prey  to  any  invasion. 
The  Israelites  many  times  thought  so,  and  were  therefore  fre- 
quently tempted  and  inclined  to  return  thither,  when  they 
met  with  discouraging  difficulties  in  their  expectations  of  Ca- 
naan. When  the  spies,  who  had  been  employed  to  search 
the  land,  had  intimidated  the  congregation,  by  magnifying 
the  strength  and  stature  of  the  inhabitants,  the  Israelites  were 
for  making  them  a  captain  to  lead  them  back  to  Egypt.^ 
They  knew  the  fruitfulness  of  this  country,  were  sensible  that 
it  must  be  under  a  feeble  government;  and  though  they  sup- 
posed themselves  not  able  to  conquer  the  Canaanitcs,  who 
were  in  their  full  strength,  yet  they  were  not  afraid  of  an  ex- 
hausted nation.  This  indeed  was  a  natural  way  of  thinking: 
but  that  Sesostris  should  be  the  son  of  Pharaoh,  who  was 
drowned  in  the  Red  Sea,  and  that  in  the  state  to  which  his 
father's  misfortunes  must  have  reduced  Egypt,  he  should  im- 
mediately find  strength  sufficient  to  subdue  kingdom  after 
kingdom,  and  erect  himself  a  large  empire  over  many  great 
and  flourishing  nations;  this  must  be  thought  by  any  one  who 
duly  considers  things,  to  seem  at  first  sight  a  most  romantic 
fiction. 

It  may,  perhaps,  be  expected,  that  I  should  not  only  say, 
who  was  not,  but  who  really  was  the  Pharaoh  that  was  drowned 
in  the  Red  Sea;  but  perhaps  I  may  not  be  able  to  determine 
this  point,  so  as  to  have  no  doubts  remaining  about  it.  How- 
ever, as  the  Egyptian  antiquities  have  been  the  study  of  many 
learned  writers  in  divers  ages,  and  great  pains  have  been 
taken  to  settle  and  deduce  a  reasonable  and  consistent  account 
of  them ;  it  may  not  be  unacceptable  to  such  as  have  not  oppor- 
tunity of  informing  themselves  better,  if  I  here,  once  for  all, 
set  before  the  reader  some  account  of  the  works  or  remains, 
which  are  most  commonly  cited  for  these  antiquities;  after 
which  he  may  judge  for  himself,  how  far  we  can  fix  the  par- 
ticular time  of  any  reign  or  transaction,  which  belongs  to  the 
history  of  this  people.  Now  the  authorities  most  generally 
appealed  to  upon  this  subject  are,  1.  The  old  Chronographeon. 
2.  The  Tomes  of  Manetho.  3.  The  Catalogue  of  Eratosthe- 
nes. 4.  Some  extracts  from  ]\Ianetho  in  Joscphus.  5.  The 
Chronographia  of  Africanus.  6.  The  Chronicon  of  Eusebius. 
7.  The  Chronographia  of  Synccllus.  And,  S.  The  Canon 
Chronicus  of  our  learned  countryman,  Sir  John  Marsham. 

1.  We  are  told  of  an  old  Egyptian  Chronographeon,  of  which 
Syncellus  has  preserved  some  remains,  or  rather  an  imperfect 
iiccounl.     But  I  may  offer  the  whole  of  what  he  gives  us  of  it, 

-  Xumb.  xiv,  3,  4. 


BOOK  XI.  HISTORY  CONNECTED.  129 

in  the  following  translation  of  his  words.  According  to  him 
it  was  thus^  worded: 

"  Time  we  do  not  assign  to  Vulcan,  for  he  is  ever.  Sol  the 
son  of  Vulcan  reigned  30,000  years.  Then  Saturn  and  the 
other  gods,  being  twelve,  reigned  3984  years.  Then  the  eight 
demi-gods,  who  were  kings,  reigned  217  years.  And  after 
these  were  set  down  fifteen  generations  of  the  Cynic  Cycle, 
taking  up  the  space  of  443  years.  Then  came  the  16th  dy- 
nasty of  Tanite  kings,  containing  eight  (generations,  or) 
reigns  of  190  years.  Next  to  these  the  17th  dynasty  of  Mcm- 
phites,  four  reigns,  103  years.  After  them  the  18th  dynasty 
of  Memphites,  fourteen  reigns,  348  years.  Then  the  19th 
dynasty  of  Diospolitans,  five  reigns,  194  years.  Then  the 
20th  dynasty  of  Diospolitans,  eight  reigns,  228  yeai's.  Next 
the  21st  dynasty  of  Tanites,  six  reigns,  121  years.  Then  the 
22d  dynasty  of  Tanites,  three  reigns,  48  years.  The  23d  dy- 
nasty of  Diospolitans,  two  reigns,  19  years.  The  24th  dy 
nasty  of  Saitans,  three  reigns,  44  years.  The  25th  dynasty 
of  Ethiopians,  three  reigns,  44  years.  The  26th  dynasty  of 
Memphites,  seven  reigns,  177  years.     The  27th  dynasty  of 

Persians,  five  reigns,  124  years ^     The  29th  dynasty 

of  Tanites,  .  .  .  reigns,*  39  years.  The  30th  dynasty  com- 
pletes the  whole,  consisting  of  one  Tanite  king,  his  reign  118 
years." 

This  is  the  account  we  have  of  the  ancient  Chronographeon; 
and  I  would  remark  concerning  it,  I.  That,  excepting  the 
three  or  four  first  lines,  it  cannot  be  thought  to  be  given  us  in 
the  very  words  of  the  Chi'onographeon;  rather,  it  is  an  ab- 
stract of  what  was  supposed  to  be  the  contents  of  it.  The 
Chronographeon  itself,  as  it  particularized  the  reign  of  Sol, 
and  then  of  Saturn;  so,  unquestionably,  it  exhibited  distinctly 
the  reigns  of  the  other  gods,  and  distributed  such  a  part  of 
the  3984  years,  said  to  be  the  sum  of  all  their  reigns,  as  be- 
longed respectively  to,  and  was  made  up  from  the  course  of 
each  of  them.  In  like  manner,  I  imagine,  it  recounted  the  eight 
demi-gods,  and  the  fifteen  Cynic  heroes,  more  distinctly,  and 
in  a  larger  narration,  than  we  here  find  them ;  for  in  this  ac- 
count, I  take  it,  we  have  only  the  beginning  of  the  Chrono- 
grapheon, and  then  the  sum  or  heads  of  what  followed,  and 
not  the  particulars  at  large,  which  were  contained  in  it.  But 
I  would  observe,  2.  That  we  have  reason  to  think,  that  the 
foregoing  account  was  not  originally  intended  for  an  account 
of  the  old  Chronographeon  only;  but  rather  for  an  account 
of  the  Chronographeon  and  of  some  other  work  accommodated 
and  connected  with  it.  From  the  beginning  of  the  account 
to  the  end  of  what  is  said  of  the  heroes  of  the  Cynic  Cycle, 

3  0:/T«D  ira>;  ert  xs^sa-c  i^.'^v.     'Hfittt^a  ;^gov!;f  ax.  i^tv Synce!!.  p.  51. 

4  TUrougli  some  det'eci  of  the  coj))',  wc  have  here  an  omission  of  the  28tli 
dynasty. 

5  We  have  here  a  like  omission  of  the  number  of  the  reigns  in  the  29tli. 
Vol.  III.  R 


130  SACRKD  AND  PROFAXE        BOOK  XI, 

we  have  the  substance  of  the  old  Chronographeon.  From 
what  follows  thus,  then  the  16th  dynasty  of  Tanite  kings,  &c. 
we  have  the  contents,  not  of  the  old  Chronographeon,  but  of 
some  later  chronicle,  which  was  thought  to  supply  what  the 
old  Chronographeon  did  not  contain,  towards  completing  the 
Egyptian  history.  In  the  old  Chronographeon,  next  to  the 
Cynic  Cycle,  were  lists  of  the  kings  of  three  kingdoms,  first 
of  the  Auritans,  secondly  of  the  Mestra^ans,  and  thirdly  of 
the  Egyptians,**  And  so  many  names  of  kings  were  probably 
contained  in  each  list,  as  had  reigned  to  the  time,  perhaps, 
when  the  Chronographeon  was  composed.  But  the  author  of 
the  account  above  produced,  not  purposing  to  go  on  with 
the  more  obsolete  names  of  the  old  Chronographeon,  but 
taking  the  Auritans  to  be  the  same  nation  as  were  afterwards 
called  Tanites,  the  Mestra^ans  the  same  as  Memphites,  and 
the  Egyptians  the  same  as  Diospolitans;  and  knowing  that  a 
later  chronicle  at  its  16th  dynasty  began  its  account  of  the 
Tanite  kings;  and  in  its  17th  and  I'sth  its  account  of  the 
Memphites ;  and  in  the  next  dynasty  its  account  of  the  Dios- 
politans; he  thought  this  to  he  a  point  of  time  where  he  was 
sure  the  two  registers,  from  which  he  copied,  coincided;  and 
therefore  having  given  the  contents  of  the  more  ancient  one, 
down  to  this  point,  instead  of  going  on  in  that  an}'-  farther, 
here,  sa)'s  he,  we  are  come  to  the  16th  dj^nasty,  an  epoch 
well  known  to  those  who  had  perused  the  accounts  of  Mane- 
tho,  and  from  hence  lie  adds  dynasty  to  dynasty  down  to 
what  he  took  to  be  the  end  of  the  Egyptian  history. 
.  If  we  do  not  take  the  account  I  am  treating  of,  in  this  light, 
it  will  be  hard  to  reconcile  the  several  parts  of  it  to  one  ano- 
ther. We  have  in  it  the  contents  of  the  Egyptian  history  of 
their  gods,  demi-gods,  Cynic  Cycle,  and  then  comes  the  16th 
dynasty. — It  must  be  obvious  here  to  ask,  how  comes  this  to 
be  called  the  16th  dynasty;  for  where  are  the  preceding  fif- 
teen? The  learned  editor  of  Syncellus  was  aware  of  this  dif- 
ficulty, and  therefore  suggests  in  his  annotations,  that  Vivsat 
If  Kuxxa  xwixn  should  be  read,  Swoffiat  u,  that  instead  of  fif- 
teen generations  of  the  Cynic  Cycle,  we  should  read  fifteen 
dynasties;^  but  this  is  to  cut  the  difiiculty,  and  not  to  solve 
it.  This  was  certainly  not  the  intention  of  the  author  of  the 
account,  who  sup])Osed  that  the  whole  history,  from  the  be- 
ginning of  the  Chronographeon  to  the  end  of  the  dynasties  he 
added  to  it,  contained  in  all  but  thirty  dynasties;  and  accord- 
ingly endeavours  to  sum  up  the  amount  of  them  all  to  be 
thirty-six  thousand  five  hundred  and  twenty-five  years.^  But 
if  we  begin  the  dynasties  from  the  Cynic  Cycle,  the  sum  of 
them  will  fall  short  myriads  of  years  of  that  number;  and  the 

*  UpuiTov    fjLt/    Tttv     AuciTm;    J'ivrtpov    Jt    Tcev    Mkoui'xv,    tp/tcv    J'i    AiyvTrTiocy . 
Syncell.  p.  5  I, 

T  \h\.  Annotat.  Goal-.  .1(1  Syncell.  p   51. 

*  Vid.  Euseb.  Chronic,  p.  7;  Syncell.  p.  5?. 


J300K  XI.  HISTORY  CONNECTED.  131 

Chronographeon  will  contain  the  history  of  the  gods  and  de- 
mi-gods,  besides  the  dynasties,  which  the  composer  of  this  ac- 
count had  no  notion  that  it  did. 

I  might  add  farther,  that  if  we  take  the  account  above  men- 
tioned as  giving  us  the  contents  of  the  old  Chronographeon 
only,  we  shall  destroy  the  supposed  antiquity  of  the  Chrono- 
grapheon. For  as  the  27th  dynasty  mentions  the  Persian 
kings,^  of  whom  Cambyses  was  the  first;^  so  it  is  evident,  that 
the  other  three  dynasties  carry  on  the  Egyptian  history  to 
about  the  time  of  Nectanebus,^  and  there  Manetho's  tomes 
cnded.^  Nectanebus  was  expelled  his  kingdom  by  Ochus 
king  of  Persia,  about  three  hundred  and  fifty  years  before 
Christ,^  A.  M.  3654.  Manctho  dedicated  his  tomes  to  Pto- 
lemy Philadelphus  before  A.  M.  3757,*  within  about  one  hun- 
dred years  after  Nectanebus;  so  that  if  the  old  Chronogra- 
pheon reached  down  to  Nectanebus,  Manetho's  work  and 
that  must  have  been  of  about  the  same  antiquity.  I  ought 
here  to  take  notice,  that  some  very  learned  writers  have  sup- 
posed this  old  Chronographeon  was  nothing  else  but  an 
abridgment  of  Manetho.  This  was  Scaliger's  opinion,  and 
accordingly,  in  his  Chronicon  of  Eusebius,  he  puts  upon  it 

the  following   title:    Qs^^v    Baaafia    xata   to    Tta.'ka.iov    ;i;^oi'txoj'    tx 

-rwv  Ma.vs'^cj.  Or,  "  the  reign  of  the  gods  according  to  the  old 
Chronicle  out  of  the  books  of  Manetho."°  This,  I  believe, 
was  Dean  Prideaux's  sentiment;  who  tells  us  we  have  an  epi- 
tome of  Manetho's  work  preserved  in  Syncellus,'  taking,  I 
suppose,  this  Chronographeon  to  be  that  epitome.  But  they 
were  probably  led  to  think  it  so,  from  Manetho's  work  and 
the  Chronographeon's  ending  at  the  same  period;  and  would 
perhaps  have  thought  differently  of  it,  had  they  duly  observed 
how  the  account  we  have  of  the  Chronographeon  differs,  the 
former  part  of  it  from  the  latter  part,  in  a  very  remarkable 
particular,  which  shows  that  it  had  been  an  abstract  not  of 
one,  but  of  two  different  works;  the  former  part  exhibiting 
the  contents  of  a  work,  which  had  not  been  divided  into  such 
dynasties  as  the  latter  part  is  made  up  of;  the  latter  part  con- 
taining the  substance  of  one  half  of  a  work,  which  had  com« 
prehended  in  thirty  dynasties  the  whole  Egyptian  history. 

That  the  old  Chronographeon  was  a  different  and  distinct 
work  from  that  of  Manetho  is  evident  from  Syncellus ;  for  he 
collected  from  it,  that  Manetho  had  committed  errors;^  and 
suggests,  that  the  period  of  time,  which  the  old  Chronogra- 
pheon digested  into  dynasties,   was  not  the  same  with  that 


9  Keu  [xnct  TjfTisj  K^  SUict^ux  Tl(f(rm  (.  iruv  fxi'.     Syncell.  p.  52. 

'  Vid.  Syncell.  p.  76;  Prideaux,  Connect,  part  i,  b.  iii. 

-  Syncell.  p.  76,  77 ;  Prideaux,  b.  iii,  vii.  3  Syncell.  p.  256. 

*  Prideaux,  b.  vii.  6  ib.  p^rt  ii,  b.  ii 
8  Euseb.  Clironic.  p.  6. 

'  Connect,  part  i.  b.  vii,  ad  annum  350. 

*  E^  »  K-//  Tov  JsUvi^ce  TTirMna-^xi  vifxi^u.  Syncell.  p.  51. 


132  SACKED  AND  PUOFANE  BOOK  XI. 

which  Manetho  sorted  into  divisions  of  a  like  denomination.^ 
From  the  old  Chronographeon,  Manetho  took  a  hint,  which 
led  him  to  compose  the  Egyptian  history  in  such  sections;' 
but  the  dynasties  of  the  old  Chronographeon  were  astronomi- 
cal, not  historical.^  The  page  of  Syncellus,  from  which  we 
might  hope  to  form  a  judgment  of  this  old  Chronographeon, 
is  printed  very  incorrectly;  or  perhaps  never  had  the  last 
hand  of  its  author;  for  Syncellus  died  before  he  had  com- 
pleted and  corrected  his  work;^  and,  I  should  think,  has  left 
us  in  this  page  rather  some  hints,  which  he  might  intend  af- 
terwards to  perfect,  than  a  clear  and  complete  account  of  the 
old  Chronographeon.  As  far  as  we  can  guess,  from  his  short 
and  imperfect  suggestions,  the  old  Chronographeon  divided  a 
very  large  period  of  time,  a  space  of  thirty-six  thousand  five 
hundred  and  twenty-five  years,  first  into  thirty  dynasties, 
then,  IV  yEi'fais  rtttXtr  piy,  it  subdivided  it  again  into  one  hun- 
dred and  thirteen  generations.'*  The  Egyptians  reputed  that 
a  period  of  thirty-six  thousand  five  hundred  and  twenty-five 
years  was  the  space  of  time,  in  which  the  luminaries  of  Hea- 
ven performed,  what  they  called  an  entire  revolution  of  the 
world ;^  and  perhaps  at  the  time  of  the  composure  of  the  Chro- 
nographeon, they  might  think  that  their  revolution  of  the  Zo- 
diac was  performed  in  one  thousand  two  hundred  and  seven- 
teen years  and  six  montlis;  and  so  was  repeated  thirty  times 
in  the  course  of  years  above  mentioned;'^  and  this  might  lead 
them  to  divide  that  great  period  by  thirty  into  dynasties. 
Now  if  I  could  trace  the  fictions  of  their  romantic  astronomy, 
and  determine  precisely  the  particular  lights  of  Heaven,  which 
in  the  first  ages  were  called  their  gods,  and  calculate  exactly 
how  they  measured  the  courses  of  each  of  them;  I  might  pro- 
bably deduce  one  hundred  and  thirteen  other  periods  con- 
tained in  the  thirty -six  thousand  five  hundred  and  twenty-five 
years,  wJiich  they  might  call  generations,  and  show,  how  in 
these  their  said  gods  completed  again  other  courses,  which 
had  relations  to  one  another.  Of  this  sort  were  the  thirty  dy- 
nasties and  one  hundred  and  thirteen  generations  of  the  old 
Chronographeon,  and  belonged  to  the  courses  of  the  Sun, 
Moon,  and  Stars,  which  were  the  gods  of  Egypt  in  these 
times. ^  After  these  the  Chronographeon  gave  account  of  the 
demi-gods  and  their  times,  but  not  in  dynasties;  and  who 
these  were,  I  have  already  considered.^     Next,  it  related  the 

^  VltfiK^ov  X  ifuvcLTiim—yjiovov  oLVupov,  km  x  rev  nvroy  tov  Maii-S'a,'.    Syncell.  p.  51. 
'   Ek  TKT&iv  (TiiAaJx  \u.^m  T«f  aps^^ac.     hi.  p.  52. 

-     AtyVTllOt    /U(V — Tltg     Triftoilii    K%t    [J.Uft'ii-i.i;    iTUV,    X.XTX^iS'lV    TtVX    TaiV    Tip    CtVTOlC 

aLTlfOXcyH/uivaiv  tii^UTO.     Id.  p.  17. 

3  Prefat.  in  Synccll.  »  Syncell.  p.  51. 

5  Marsham,  Can.  Chron.  p.  9.     See  vol.  i.  b.  i. 

•'  Afterwards  they  computed  a  revolution  of  llic  Zodiac  more  accurately  to 
he  fourteen  hundred  and  sixty  years,  still  falling-  a  little  short  of  a  true  calcu- 
Lition.     Censorin.  de  Die  Natuli,  c.  18. 

"  See  vol.  i,  b.  i,  b.  5.  ^  Book  i. 


BOOK  XI.  HISTORY  CONNECTED.  133 

h^,roes  of  the  Cynic  Cycle  f  and  lastly,  added  the  names  of 
such  Auritan,  Mestrasan,  and  Egyptian  kings,^  as  had  reigned 
down  to  the  times  where  the  Chronographeon  ended.  Let  us 
now  consider  in  the  next  place  the  tomes  of  Manetho. 

II.  Manetho  was  a  learned  and  noble  Egyptian  at  the  head 
of  their  sacra.^  About  the  time,  or  soon  after  the  Septuagint 
translation  was  made  of  the  Hebrew  Scriptures,  he  was  or- 
dered by  Ptolemy  Philadelphus  to  compile  the  history  of  his 
own  country.  Having  consulted  the  sacred  books  of  the 
Egyptians,  and  extracted,  as  he  pretended,  what  had  been 
transcribed  into  them  from  their  most  ancient  monuments, 
and  completed  his  undertaking  in  the  Greek  tongue,  he  dedi- 
cated it  to  Ptolemy,  at  whose  command  he  had  composed  it.^ 
His  work  contained  an  account  of  the  gods,  demi-gods,  heroes, 
and  mortals,  that  had  reigned  in  Egypt;''  and  herein  the  sub- 
ject matter  of  it  bears  a  resembance  to  the  old  Chronogra- 
pheon, for  that,  as  I  have  said,  began  with  the  reigns  of  Sol 
and  the  other  gods,  then  gave  account  of  the  demi-gods,  then 
of  the  Cynic  heroes,  and  lastly  of  the  Auritan,  Mestraean,  and 
Egyptian  kings.  Manetho  divided  his  history  into  thirty  dy- 
nasties and  one  hundred  and  thirteen  generations;*  but  he  dif- 
fered from  the  Chronographeon,  in  that  the  times  he  treated 
under  these  titles  were  not  the  same  periods  with  those, 
which  the  Chronographeon  exhibited  under  the  like  denomi- 
nations.*^ The  dynasties  and  generations  of  the  Chronogra- 
pheon were  astronomical,  prior  to  the  reigns  or  lives  of  the 
demi-gods;  but  Manetho's  began  from  the  reigns  of  the  demi- 
gods, were  carried  on  through  the  reigns  of  the  gods,  heroes, 
and  mortals,  and  terminated  with  Nectanebus.  Manetho  was 
unquestionably  a  great  master  of  the  Egyptian  learning,  and 
might  think  it  a  point  of  their  doctrines,  that  all  things  had 
their  period  in  thirty-six  thousand  five  hundred  and  twenty- 
five  years.^  He  had  lived  to  see  the  ancient  glory  of  his 
country  passed  over;  for  Egypt  was  in  the  possession  of  a  fo- 
reign race  of  kings  in  his  time.  Nectanebus  was  the  last 
Egyptian  who  sat  on  the  throne  of  this  nation.^  Upon  his 
flight  from  Ochus  king  of  Persia,  Egypt  caine  into  the  hands 
of  the  Persians,  and  afterwards  was  reduced  by  Alexander  the 
Great  ;^  at  whose  death  it  became  a  part  of  the  provinces  of 
Ptolemy,  one  of  his  captains,  who  in  a  few  years  became  king 
of  it,  and  his  son  Ptolemy  Philadelphus  reigned  when  Mane- 
tho wrote  his  history.     Thus  Manetho  had  seen  of  the  Egyp- 

"  Vid.  b.  i.  1  Syncell,  p.  51. 

2  Syncell.  p.  40;  Voss.  de  Hist.  Grace,  lib.  i,  c.  14. 
■^  Joseph,  contra  Ap.  lib.  i,  c.  14;  Syncell.  p.  40. 

*  Ev   Tg/ajtcvra  S'vyeta-lua.i^  i^ofit   tuiv  Myoy.ivuv  Trup  auTCi;  ^icov,  nut  iifAiSucev,  Ksti 
\(K-jm,  KAi  -S'nnTav  iTie^m  fiu.<rn.iu<v.    Syncell.  p.  40. 

'■>  Piy  yivia)V  ev  S'vya.^itnK  A  uvx-yiy^nju/uevw.     Syncell.  p.  52. 
'   Ou    TOV   AUTiV    [XP^VOV]   T3V   Mun^co.      Id.  p.  51. 

"  Vid.  Jamblich.  de  Myster.  Egypt,  r.  de  Deo  atque  Dlis. 

"*  Prideaux,  Connect,  part  i,  b.  v'ii.  s  Id.  ibid.  ; 


134  SACKED  AND  PROFANE        BOOK  XI. 

lian  race  of  kings,  that  their  times  had  been  fulfilled,  and  their 
kingdom  departed  from  them  ;  and  upon  the  dogmata  of  the 
Egyptian  learning,  he  conceived  that  such  a  revolution  might 
indeed  happen  at  the  end  of  thirty-six  thousand  five  hundred 
and  twenty-five  years,  and  therefore  deduced  his  dynasties  ac- 
cording to  it.  Thus  he  made  his  work  not  dishonourable  to 
liis  country,  or  to  the  stock  of  which  himself  was  descended;' 
for  it  showed  that  the  Egyptian  reigns  had  been  carried  down 
to  a  full  and  complete  period;  and  it  might  be  likely  to  give 
Ptolemy  no  disadvantageous  sentiments  of  the  Egyptian  sacra 
and  learning,  if  it  could  suggest  to  him,  that  his  kingdom  was 
founded  near  the  beginning  of  a  new  order  of  ages,^  and  might, 
under  the  protection  of  the  same  gods,  be  extended  to  as  late 
a  date. 

Syncellus  has  in  several  places,  from  Africanus  and  other 
writers,  given  us  the  number  of  years  supposed  to  belong  to 
the  parts  of  Manetho's  history.  But  the  reader  would  have 
little  satisfaction,  if  I  were  to  collect  and  compare  them;  for 
the}'^  do  not  appear  to  be  the  true  numbers,  nor  are  they  al- 
ways consistent  with  one  another.^  Syncellus  unquestionably 
never  saw  the  work  of  Manetho;^  for  no  remains  of  it  were 
extant  in  his  time,  other  than  what  later  writers  had  cited 
from  him.  And  the  several  writers,  who  had  cited  Mane- 
tho,  had  so  calculated,  reduced,*  and  disposed  what  they  ci- 
ted, to  make  it  suit  such  schemes  as  themselves  had  formed  of 
the  Egyptian  antiquities,  that  Syncellus  could  at  best  only 
guess,  what  Manetho's  scheme  was,  or  what  precise  number 
of  years  he  really  assigned  to  the  several  particulars  of  it. 
Manetho  composed  his  work  in  three  tomes,  volumes,  or  ra- 
ther books  ;^  which  contained,  as  above,  thirty  dynasties,  de- 
duced through  one  hundred  and  thirteen  reigns,  successions, 
or  generations.^  In  the  former  dynasties  the  history  of  the 
gods,  demi-gods,  and  heroes  were  contained ;  in  the  latter  the 
history  of  the  mortal  kings  ;^  and  according  to  the  supplement 
to  the  old  Chronographeon  above  mentioned,  the  account  of 
the  mortal  kings  took  up  the  last  fifteen  dynasties;^  and  in 
them  were  set  down  the  reigns  or  successions  of  between 
seventy  and  eighty  kings,^  in  the  space  of  seventeen  or  eigh- 

1  Manetho  was  of  the  Sebennlte  race.  SynccU.  p.  40,  A  family  which 
in  ■Nectanebus  ascended  tlie  tlirone.     Pndeaux  ubi  sup. 

2  Virgil  compliments  the  Augustan  age,  in  whicii  the  affairs  of  Rome  were 
come  to  a  new  settlement,  in  this  manner:  Magnus  ab  integro  seclorum  nas- 
citur  ordo.    Eclog.  iv,  lib.  5. 

3  Syncell.p  18,  19,  62.  ''  Marsham,  Can  Chron.  p.  3. 
s  Vid  Svncell.  p.  19.     Numeri  isti  non  tarn  Manethonis  sunt,  quam  Eusebii 

vcl  Panodori.     Marsham,  ubi  sup. 

c  SynccU.  p.  52.  "^  Ibid. 

8  Ibid.  5  Ibid. 

»  The  number  of  kin^s  will  be  found  to  be  seventy-seven,  if  \ye  fill  up  the 
28th  dynasty  with  the  reign  of  one  king,  and  the  J9th  with  five,  and  suppose 
the  30th  to  contain  the  reign,  not  of  one,  but  of  three  kings  :  and  that  these 
supplements  and  conxctions  arc  just,  the  reader  may  be  satisfied  from  the  ac- 


BOOK  XI.  HISTORY  CONNECTED.  135 

teen  hundred  years.^  If  the  number  of  kings  were  seventy- 
seven,^  add  to  these  fifteen  Cynic  heroes,^  eight  demi-gods,* 
twelve  gods,*'  and  Sol  the  son  of  Vulcan,  and  we  have,  per- 
haps, Manetho's  one  hundred  and  thirteen  generations.  In 
like  manner  I  might  attempt  to  fix  the  numbers  of  years 
which  he  assigned  to  the  several  generations.  If  the  reigns 
of  his  kings  amounted  to  between  seventeen  and  eighteen 
hundred  years,  then  the  reigns  of  his  gods,  demi-gods,  and 
heroes,  filled  up  the  space  of  almost  thirty-five  thousand;  for 
all  together  made  thirty-six  thousand  five  hundred  and  twen- 
ty-five years.  The  numbers  of  years  of  the  reigns  of  the 
kings,  as  calculated  in  the  supplement  to  the  old  Chronogra- 
pheon,  are  seventeen  hundred  and  ten.''  The  dynasties  ended 
with  Nectanebus,  A.  M.  3654;^  count  back  from  hence  seven- 
teen hundred  and  ten  years,  and  we  begin  the  reign  of  the 
first  king,  A.  M.  1944,  Menes,  or  the  Mizraim  of  Moses,^ 
went  into  Egypt  about  A.  M.  1772,  removed  from  the  land  of 
Zoan  there  into  a  farther  part  of  the  country  about  A.  M. 
1881,  and  died  about  A.  M.  1943  ;i  so  that  Manetho's  ac- 
counts began  the  kings  about  the  time  of  Menes.^  Of  this 
sort,  I  believe,  was  the  work  of  Manetho :  and  it  is  obvious, 
that  it  did  not  appear  to  carry  the  accounts  of  the  Egyptian 
kings  so  far  backward  as  the  Greeks  must  suppose  they  ought 
to  be  carried,  from  what  had  been  before  published  of  them 
in  the  Greek  tongue.  Herodotus  wrote  about  a  century  and 
a  half  earlier  than  Manetho;^  and  according  to  what  he  col- 
lected, the  Egyptians  had  had  from  Menes  to  Cambyses 
above  three  hundred  and  fifty  kings."*  When  Herodotus  was 
in  Egypt,  he  was  carried  into  a  temple,  where  he  counted  the 
number  of  the  statues  of  the  priests,  that  were  set  up  there, 
and  he  reckoned  three  hundred  and  forty-five;*  and  the 
Egyptians  informed  him,  that  they  had  so  many  priests,  and 


counts  given  of  these  dynasties  by  Africaniis  and  Eusebius,  Syncell.  p.  76,  77, 
and  from  the  true  history  of  Egypt  from  Nectanebus's  advancement  to  the 
throne,  to  the  flight  of  Nectanebus.     See  Prideaux,  Connect,  part  i,  b,  vii. 

2  If  the  reader  counts  up  the  numbers  of  years  assigned  to  the  reigns  of  the 
kings  in  the  several  dynasties  annexed  to  the  Chronographeon,  supposing  six 
years  to  be  the  reign  of  the  kwig  omitted  in  the  28tli  dynasty,  (see  this  dynast, 
in  African  et  Euseb.  Syncell.  p.  76,  77,^  and  supposing  the' years  of  the  30th 
dynasty  to  be  25  not  18,  (consult  Prideaux's  Connect,  for  the  reigns  of  the 
kings  which  belonged  to  that  dynasty,)  he  will  find  the  sum  of  yeai-s  to  be 
seventeen  hundred  and  ten. 

3  Vid.  qux  sup.  4  Chronograph.  Syncell,  p.  51. 
'"  Ibid.                              e  Ibid.  7  Vid.  quae  sup. 

s  Syncell.  p.  256,  »  See  vol.  i,  b.  iv.  i  Ibid. 

2  I  cannot  think  the  numbers  are  printed  so  accurately,  or  that  we  may  be 
able,  perhaps,  to  correct  them  with  so  much  certainty  and  exactness,  as  to  de- 
termine absolutely  that  this  was  the  real  number  fixed  by  Manetho ;  from  this 
number  we  may  tbrm  a  general  notion  of  his  computations,  and  that  is  all  we 
can  pretend  to  endeavour  at. 

3  Compute  the  time  of  Herodotus  from  Prideaux,  Connect,  part  i,  b.  vi,  ad 
an.  444. 

<  Herodot.  Hist.  lib.  ii.  ^  Id.  ibid.  c.  142. 


136  SACRED  AND  PROFANE  BOOK  XI. 

as  many  kings,  from  Menes,  their  first  king,  to  Sethos.''  Wc 
cannot  suppose  that  Herodotus  should  herein  publish  an  abso- 
lute falsehood;  and  if  Herodotus  did  indeed  see  such  a  collec- 
tion of  statues,  how  is  it  possible,  that  there  should  have  been 
no  more  kings  of  Egypt,  than  what  Manetho  seems  to  have 
suggested?  But  this  matter  may  be  easily  cleared.  The 
Egyptians  had  collected  into  this  temple  the  statues  of  priests 
from  a  multitude  of  cities,  and  might,  in  showing  them  to 
strangers,  ostentatiously  set  ofi'  the  number  of  their  priests  and 
kino-s,  not  telling  how  they  had  collected  them,  and  they 
mi<;ht  hereby  easily  send  into  the  world  enlarged  accounts  of 
the  Egyptian  antiquities.  But  Manetho  knew  the  affairs  of 
his  country  too  well  to  be  led  into  this  error.  He  supposed 
one  continued  empire  to  have  subsisted  and  been  maintained 
in  Egypt  from  Menes  to  Nectanebus;  that  the  seat  of  it  had 
in  different  ages  been  at  different  cities;  sometimes  at  This, 
sometimes  at  Memphis,  sometimes  at  Diospolis,  and  some- 
times at  Tanis.  Accordingly  he  deduces  and  connects  a  se- 
ries of  those  kings,  whom  he  imagined  to  have  had  in  their 
times  the  supreme  command;  omitting  all  others  their  con- 
temporaries, whom  he  supposed  to  have  governed  but  as  de- 
puties to  these,  in  their  respective  provinces  or  cities.  How- 
ever, Manetho's  account  does  not  seem  to  have  given  an  en- 
tire satisfaction;  for  in  a  little  time  after  he  had  composed  it, 
in  the  reign  of  Ptolemy  Euergetes,  the  immediate  successor 
of  Philadelphus,  who  had  employed  Manetho,  Eratosthenes 
was  ordered  to  make  a  farther  collection  of  the  Egyptian 
kings. 

III.  Eratosthenes  was  a  Cyrenian,  had  studied  at  Athens, 
was  of  great  eminence  for  his  parts  and  learning,  had  an  in- 
vitation into  Egypt  from  Ptolemy  Euergetes,  who  made  him 
one  of  the  keepers  of  the  royal  library  at  Alexandria,^  and 
commanded  him  to  give  him  a  catalogue  of  the  Egyptian 
kings.  Eratosthenes  hereupon  made  a  list  of  the  kings,  who 
had  reigned  at  Thebes  or  Diospolis,  and  to  every  king's  name 
added  the  number  of  years  in  his  reign.  His  catalogue  is 
preserved  in  Syncellus,^  and  the  names  of  the  kings,  and 
number  of  years  of  the  respective  reigns  set  down  in  it,  are 
as  follows.  I.  Menes  reigned  years  62.  H.  Athothes  59.  HI. 
Another  Athothes  32.  ^  IV. 'Diabics  19.  V.  Pemphos  IS. 
VI.  Tffigar  Amachus  Momchciri  79.  VII.  Stschus  6.  VIII. 
Gosormies  30.  IX.  Mares  26.  X.  Anoyphes  20.  XI.  Si- 
rius  18.  XII.  Chnoubus  Gncurus  22.  XIII.  Ramosis  13. 
XIV.  Biyris  10.  XV.  Saophis  Comastes  29.  XVI.  Sensao- 
phis  27.  XVII.  Moscheris  fleliodotus  31.  XVIII.  Musthis 
33.     XIX.  Pammus  Archondes  35.    XX.  Apappus  Maximus 


Herodot.  Hist.  lib.  ii,  c.  142. 

Voss.  <lc  Mistor.  Grxc.  lib.  i,  c.  17;  Pridcani.  Connect,  part  Ii,  b. 

Syncell.  p.  91—14-7. 


BOOK  XI.  HISTORY  CONNECTED.  137 

100.  XXI.  AchescusOcaras  1.  XXII.  Nicotrls  6.  XXIII. 
Myrtsus  Ammonodotus  22.  XXIV.  Thuosi  Mares  12.  XXV. 
Thinillus  8.  XXVI.  Semphruceates  18.  XXVII.  Chouther 
Taurus  7.  XXVIII.  Meures  Philoscorus  12.  XXIX.  Cho- 
maeptha  Mundus  Philephaestus  11.  XXX.  Anchunius  Ochy- 
Tyrannus  60.  XXXI.  Penteathyris  16.  XXXII.  Stame- 
nemes  23.  XXXIII.  Sistosichermes  55.  XXXIV.  Mseris 
43.  XXXV.  Siphoas,  or  Mercury,  5.  XXXVI.  The  name 
of  the  king  is  wanting,  the  years  of  his  reign  are  14.  XXXVII. 
Pheuron,  or  Nilus,  5  years.  XXXVIII.  Amuthantaeus  63. 
This  is  the  remain  we  have  of  Eratosthenes,  taken  by  Syn- 
cellus  from  the  annals  of  Apollodorus.^  It  begins  from  Me- 
nes,  who  was  the  Mizraim  of  Moses,^  sixty-two  years  before 
the  death  of  Menes,  one  hundred  and  twenty-four  years,  says 
Syncellus,  after  the  confusion  of  tongues,^  that  is,  when  Menes 
removed  from  the  land  of  Tanis  into  Thebais,  A.  M.  1881.^ 
The  sum  of  all  the  reigns  contained  in  the  catalogue  amount, 
according  to  Syncellus,  to  one  thousand  and  seventy-six  years,'' 
and  consequently  the  catalogue  may  be  computed  to  end  A.  M. 
2957.  But  before  I  leave  this  work  of  Eratosthenes,  I  would 
offer  a  few  remarks  upon  it.  1.  The  nature  and  manner  of  it 
points  out,  what  were  the  reputed  defects  of  Manetho's  per- 
formance at  the  time  of  composing  it.  Had  Manetho's  been 
esteemed  a  complete  work,  Eratosthenes  would  certainly  not 
have  been  employed  so  soon  after  him.  But  the  number  of 
Egyptian  kings  suggested  by  Herodotus,  upon  the  appearance 
of  a  strict  inquiry,  and  a  very  good  information,  could  not 
but  put  the  learned  Greeks  at  Alexandria,  as  well  as  others, 
upon  examining  whether  Manetho  was  not  deficient  in  his 
number  of  Egyptian  kings.  With  this  view  Eratosthenes  col- 
lected the  kings  of  one  particular  kingdom.  There  were  in 
Manetho's  dynasties  but  about  fifteen  kings  of  the  Theban 
kingdom  f  but,  besides  these,  Eratosthenes  collected  thirty- 
eight,  who  had  been  omitted  by  Manetho.  2.  The  learned 
have  very  reasonably  computed,  that  Eratosthenes's  catalogue 
was  carried  down  to  the  time  of  the  first  Diospolitan  king 
mentioned  in  the°  dynasties  of  Manetho,  i.  e.  the  king  of 
Diospolis,  who  was  the  first  of  Manetho's  Xllth  dynasty, 
was  the  immediate  successor  of  Amuthantaeus,  the  last  of  the 
catalogue  of  Eratosthenes.  3.  It  is  something  difficult  to  form 
a  computation  of  the  numbers  of  years  belonging  to  the  reigns 

»  Syncell.  p.  91.  i  Gen.  x,  13  ;  vol.  i,  b.  iv. 

2  Syncell.  p.  147.  3  Vol,  i,  b.  iv. 

4  If  the  reailei-  sums  up  the  reigns  above  recounted,  he  will  find  them 
amount  to  but  one  thousand  and  fifty ;  but  I  must  observe,  th;it  in  the  margin 
of  Syncellus's  (.-'hronogniphia,  at  the  name  of  Penteathyris,  the  XXXIst  king, 
it  is  remarked,  that  the  years  of  his  reign  should  be  read  ^C'  not  ig-,  42  not  16  ; 
make  this  correction,  and  the  sum  of  years  of  the  catalogue  will  be  one  thou- 
sand and  seventy-six,  as  Syncellus  writes  it. 

5  Vid.  Chronograph,  xix,  xx,  xxiii,  Dyn. ;  Syncell.  p.  5  1,  52. 

s  Marsham,  Can.  Chron.  p.  3 ;   Prideaux,  Connect,  part  ii,  b.  ii,  ad  ann.  239. 

Vol.  III.  S 


138  SACRED  AND  PROFANE        BOOK  XI. 

in  Eratosthenes,  and  in  Manetho,  suitable  to  the  connecting 
Eratosthenes's  catalogue  with  Manetho's  dynasties  in  this 
manner.  But  I  think,  we  are  so  far  from  being  sure,  that  we 
have  every  number  in  either  Eratosthenes  or  Manetho  ex- 
actly as  they  left  them,  or  that  they  themselves  did  not  mis- 
take sometimes,  in  computing  or  transcribing  the  old  Egyp- 
tian numeral  characters,  that  great  stress  cannot  be  laid  upon 
any  seeming  repugnancies  of  this  nature.  As  Eratosthenes's 
catalogue  now  stands,  from  the  beginning  of  the  catalogue  to 
the  reign  of  Nilus  the  XXXVIIth  king,  are  nine  hundred  and 
eighty-two  years;  so  that  Nilus  began  his  reign,  according  to 
this  account,  A.  M.  2863,  But  Dicaearchus  computed  the  reign 
of  Nilus  to  the  four  hundred  and  thirty-sixth  year  before  the 
first  Olympiad;^  if  we  fix  the  first  Olympiad  to  A.  M.  3228,^ 
Nilus  began  his  reign  A.  M.  2792  ;  seventy-one  years  earlier 
than  the  catalogue  suggests.  But  for  errors  of  this  sort,  allow- 
ances must  be  given  and  taken,  in  many  parts  of  the  ancient 
Egyptian  history. 

IV.  We  have  in  .Tosephtis  some  citations  from  Manetho, 
which  ought  in  the  next  place  to  be  examined.  Josephus  tells 
us  from  Manetho,  that  the  incursion  of  the  Pastors,  who 
made  themselves  masters  of  Egypt,''  happened  when  Timaeus 
was  king;^  that  the  first  Pastor  king  was  Salatis,  who  reigned 
nineteen  years;  and  was  succeeded  by  Bson,  who  reigned 
forty-four  years.  After  Baeon  reigned  Apachnas  thirty-six 
years  and  seven  months,  then  Apophis  sixty-one  years,  then 
Janias  fifty  years  one  month,  after  whom  Assis  forty-two 
years  two  months,^  and  after  these,  other  kings.  Josephus  in- 
forms us,  that  the  Pastors  held  Egypt  in  subjection  five  hun- 
dred and  eleven^  years ;  at  the  end  of  which  term  Alisfrag- 
muthosis,  a  Theban  king,  gave  them  a  great  overthrow,  and 
that  his  son  Thummosis  reduced  them  to  leave  Egypf  After 
this,  Josephus  from  Manetho  gives  us*  a  list  of  Theban  kings. 
I.  Tethmosis  reigned  25  years  4  months.  II.  Chebron  13 
years.  III.  Amenophis  20  years  7  months.  IV.  Amesses 
21  years  9  months.  V.  Mephres  12  years  9  months.  VI. 
Mephrammuthosis  25  years  10  months.  VII.  Thmosis  9 
years  8  months.  VIII.  Amenophis  30  years  10  months.  IX. 
Orus  30  years  5  months.  X.  Acencheres  12  years  1  month. 
XI.  Rathotis  9  years.  XII.  Acencheres  12  years  5  months. 
XIII.  Another  Acencheres  12  years  3  months,  XIV.  Har- 
mais  4  years  1  month.  XV.  Ramesses  1  year  4  months. 
XVI.  Ramesses  Miamon  66  years  2  months.  XVII.  Ameno- 
phis 19  years  6  months.     XVIII.  Scthosis  59  years.^     XIX. 


■'  ApoUon.  Argonaut,  lib.  iv,  v,  272,  in  Schol.  p.  412. 

8  Vul.  Marsliam,  Can.  Chron.p.  423;  Usher's  Annals  ad  ann.  Per.  Jul.  3938. 
'  See  vol.  ii,  b.  vii,  p.  153.  •  .loseph.  contra  Apion.  lib.  i,  c.  14. 

i  Id.  ibid.  3  Id.  ibid  *  Id.  ibid. 

*  Id.  c.  15.  6  la.  c.  26. 


BOOK  XI.  HISTORY  CONNECTED,  139 

Rampses  or  Ramesses  66  years.^     Concerning  what  is  thus 
offered  by  Josephus,  I  would  observe, 

1.  That  we  have  no  reason  to  suppose,  that  the  first  Pastor 
kings  were  a  real  part  of  Manetho's  Egyptian  dynasties. 
JVIanetho's  purpose  was  to  deduce  the  succession  of  the  Egyp- 
tian kings;  but  the  Pastor  kings  were  not  Egyptian;  they 
were  foreign  invaders,  who  over-ran  Egypt,  and  reduced  a 
great  part  of  the  country  into  subjection.  When  therefore 
Manetho  came  down  to  the  times  where  they  made  their  in- 
vasion, though  he  probably  took  notice  of  their  incursion, 
their  names,  and  what  part  of  the  country  they  gained  pos- 
session of,  yet  he  probably  continued  down  the  history  of  the 
kings  of  Egypt  in  the  Thebans,  who  were  not  reduced  by  the 
Pastors.  Accordingly,  in  the  epitome  of  Manetho,  we  find 
no  dynasty  of  Pastors;*  nor  would  Africanus,*'  or  Eusebius,^ 
I  should  think,  have  supposed  any,  had  they  duly  attended 
to  what  must  have  been  the  design  of  Manetho's  perform- 
ance. They  might  perhaps  have  remarked  the  Pastor  kings 
over  against,  and  contemporary  with  those  kings  of  Thebais, 
in  whose  reigns  they  got  possession  of  a  great  part  of  Egypt. 
2.  The  Pastors  came  into  Egypt  about  A.  M.  2420;^  until 
which  time  Egypt  appears  in  Scripture  to  have  enjoyed  a 
long  and  uninterrupted  peace  from  its  most  early  ages.^  But 
now  a  new  or  foreign  king  arose,'*  unacquainted  with  what 
had  been  transacted  in  it  ;*  and  farther,  the  sacred  pages  sug- 
gest, that  a  people  had  been  about  this  time  expelled  their 
country,^  who  probably  might  be  these  Pastors,  who  invaded 
Egypt.  In  like  manner,  if  from  A.  M.  2420,  we  count  down 
five  hundred  and  eleven  years,  the  term  during  which  the 
Pastors  kept  their  conquests,  we  shall  fix  their  leaving  Egypt 
about  A.  M.  2931.  They  had  then  leave  to  march  into  what- 
ever country  they  liked  to  go,  and  which  would  receive 
them;^  they  marched  through  the  desart,^  and  probably  found 
a  reception  in  some  nation  of  Arabia.  They  went  from  Egypt 
not  fewer  in  number  than  two  hundred  and  forty  thousand,^ 
and  consequently  the  nation  which  received  so  considerable 
an  addition  to  its  people  must  in  a  little  time  have  grown  very 
populous.  Agreeably  hereto,  about  A.  M.  3063,^  within  little 

'  Joseph,  contra  Apioii.Ub.  i,  c.  26.  s  yid.  Chronograph. 

9  Africanus  supposes  three  Fastor-dynasties,  15th,  16th,  17th.  Syncell. 
p.  61. 

1  Eusebius  suggests  but  one  Pastor-dynasty,  namely  his  IT'th.  Euseb. 
Chron.;  Syncell.  p.  61. 

2  See  vol.  li.  b.  vii,  p.  156. 

3  The  learned  writers,  \v!io  would  introduce  the  Pastors  in  another  age,  are 
forced  to  place  them  about  the  first  planting  of  Egypt,  in  times  when  we  have 
no  mention  of  the  state  of  it  in  the  Scriptures.  See  Bishop  Cumberland's  San- 
choniatho,  and  his  Origines  Gentium. 

■*  Exod.  i,  8 ;  see  vol.  ii,  b.  vii,  p.  153.  ^  jbld. 

G  Exod.  i,  8  ;  see  vol.  ii,  b.  vii,  p.  155. 

'  Joseph,  contra  Apion.lib,  i,  c.  14.  9  Ibid. 

^  Ibid.  i  Usher's  Annals- 


140  SACRED  AND  PROrAXE        BOOK  XI. 

more  than  a  century,  Zerah  the  Ethiopian  or  Cushite,=^  a  king 
in  Arabia  Petrsea,  invaded  his  neighbours  with  an  army  of  a 
thousand  thousand  f  so  that  the  sacred  pages  give  intimations 
of  the  state  both  of  Egypt,  and  of  the  neighbouring  countries, 
well  answering  to  the  thus  fixing  the  times  of  the  Pastors. 
Josephus  seems  to  me  not  to  be  consistent  with  himself,  in 
the  account  he  gives  from  Manetho  of  the  Theban  kings."*  In 
one  place  he  says  Tummosis  the  son  of  Alisfragmuthosis  ex- 
pelled the  Pastors.^  This  Tummosis  was  surely  the  king 
whom  he  afterwards  calls  Thmosis,  and  whom  he  sets  down 
next  to  Mephramuthosis.^  Yet  in  recounting  these  kings, 
he  sets  Tethmosis,  who,  he  says,  expelled  the  Pastors,  five 
reigns  before  Mephramuthosis.^  But  probably  Manetho  had 
rendered  this  part  of  his  work  dark  and  confused.  Manetho 
took  the  Israelites  and  the  Pastors  to  be  one  and  the  same 
people;^  and  by  treating  the  Jewish  exit  and  the  expulsion  of 
the  Pastors  as  one  event,  he  might  mention  the  names  of  dif- 
ferent kings,  so  as  to  lead  Josephus  into  this  contrariety.  If 
we  may  form  our  notion  of  Manetho's  work  from  the  Epitome 
of  it,^  Josephus  mistook  the  number  of  Manetho's  Theban 
kings.  The  Epitome  suggests  that  he  had  mentioned  only 
fifteen;  five  in  his  19th  dynasty,  eight  in  his  20th,  and  two 
in  his  23d.  And  if  I  knew  how  to  choose  the  fifteen  rightly 
out  of  Josephus's  list,  and  to  make  the  first  five  begin  where 
Eratosthenes's  catalogue  ends,  and  continue  to  the  expulsion 
of  the  Pastors;  and  then  to  choose  eight  more,  whose  reigns 
might  carry  on  the  history  to  Sesostris  or  Sethosis,  who  was 
Sesac,  and  came  against  Jerusalem  A.  M.  3033;^  I  should  take 
the  last  two  of  Manetho's  Theban  kings  to  be  Sesostris  and 
liis  son  Ramcses.  And  I  should  imagine,  I  had  hereby  set 
Josephus's  catalogue  right,  and  made  Manetho's  account 
agreeable,  in  this  part  of  it,  to  true  history. 

V.  Next  to  Josephus,  we  are  to  consider  the  work  of  Sex- 
tus  Julius  Africanus,  who  was  a  Christian,  lived  in  the  third 
century,  and  wrote  about  a  hundred  and  fifty  years  after  Jo- 
sephus. He  composed  a  Chronography  consisting  of  two 
parts ;  in  the  former  of  which  he  collected,  from  other  more 
ancient  writers,  the  matci'ials  he  intended  to  make  use  of;  in 
ihe  latter  he  formed  from  them  a  chronicle  or  historical  de- 
duction, beginning  from  the  creation  of  the  world,  and  car- 
ried down  to  the  consulate  of  Gratus  and  Selcucus,  to  the  year 
of  our  Loud  221,  says  Sir  John  Marsham.-  Amongst  other 
collections,  in  the  former  part  of  his  work,  were  the  d3'nas- 
ties  of  JNlanetho;  but  not  such  as  Manetho  left  them;  for  they 

2  See  vol.  i,  b.  iii.  3  2  Cliron.  xiv. 

4  Josepli.conUa.  Apion.  b.  i,  c.  15.  5  jbid,  c.  14. 
*'  Joseph,  cont.  Apion.  lib.  i,  c.  15. — Africanus  and  Eusebius  call    liim 
Tiitlimosis. 

7  Ibid.  c.  15.  8  Ibid.  c.  14,  16,  26. 

»  Clironograpli.  in  Syncell.  p.  51,  52.  '  See  I'reface  to  vol.  ii. 
2  Can.  Ctiion.  p.  5. 


BOOK  XI.  HISTORY  CONNECTED.  141 

were  new  modelled  according  to  some  scheme  of  them  formed 
later  than  tlie  times  of  Manetho.  For,  1.  Manetho's  dynasties 
began  with  the  reigns  of  the  gods,  demi-gods,  and  heroes,  and 
then  exhibited  the  reigns  of  the  mortal  kings  ;^  but  the  dynas- 
ties given  us  by  Africanus  begin  from  the  mortal  kings,-*  and 
omit  all  that  related  to  the  superior  beings,  who  were  said  to 
have  reigned  before  them/  2.  Manetho's  dynasties  of  the 
mortal  kings  were  but  fifteen  ;  they  began  at  the  16th  dynasty, 
and  ended  with  the  30th  ;''  but  Africanus  gives  us  thirty-one 
dynasties  of  Egyptian  kings.  Upon  this  account  we  must  con- 
clude, 3.  That  several  of  Africanus's  dynasties  were  not  in 
Manetho.  Thus  the  31st  dynasty  was  not  Manetho's;  for  he 
carried  down  his  history  no  farther  than  to  the  end  of  Necta- 
nebus's  reign ;  but  this  31st  dynasty  contains  the  names  of 
Persian  kings,  who  reigned  after  Nectanebus  was  expelled 
his  kingdom.^  In  like  manner  Manetlio's  tomes  seem  to  me 
not  to  have  had  Africanus's  2d  dynasty  of  Thinite  kings,* 
nor  the  5th  of  Elephantine,  nor  the  6th  of  Memphites,  nor 
the  15th  of  Pastors,  nor  the  22d  of  Bubastites,  as  Africanus 
gives  them.  Farther,  Africanus's  ISth  dynasty  of  Theban 
kings  seems  to  be  taken  rather  from  Josephus  than  from  Ma- 
netho;  for  Manetho  had  in  all  but  15  Theban  kings,  and 
those  set  down  in  three  dynasties.^  As  to  Africanus's  7th, 
8th,  9th,  10th,  13th,  14th,  16th,  17th,  and  20th  dynasties, 
they  are  mere  numbers  of  years,  without  any  names  of  kings 
affixed  to  them;^  and  unquestionably  no  such  dynasties  were 
to  be  found  in  Manetho. 

It  may  be  here  asked,  how  it  can  be  supposed  that  Africa- 
nus should  take  away  from,  and  add  to  Manetho's  dynasties 
in  this  extravagant  manner,  or  how  or  whence  could  he  find 
matter  or  pretence  to  do  it?  I  answer,  1.  For  his  omission  of 
what  Manetho  had  recorded  prior  to  the  reigns  of  the  mortal 
kings,  it  is  easy  to  find  a  good  reason.  He  thought  all  that 
Manetho  offered  of  the  reigns  of  gods,  demi-gods,  and  heroes, 
to  be  fable,  fiction,  or  false  theology  f  and  therefore  superflu- 
ous, not  worth  his  transcribing.  2.  There  might  be  in  the 
tomes  of  Manetho  the  names  of  many  kings,  besides  those, 

3  Syncell.  p.  40.  4  w.  p.  54, 

5  Africanus  begins  his  dynasties  thus,  Msta  vacuac  t«c  x^/desf  'o-fam 
Satikuo.  x.ara.piBfMt'rau  Soia-iKiav  cktco. — Syncell.  ibid. 

fi  Vid.  Chronograph,  in  Syncell.  p.  51,  52.     >cui  s.t/  ttho-ui;  \  iiuvus-uet. 

'  The  kings  of  the  31st  dynasty  are  Ochus,  Arses,  Darius.    Syncell,  p.  77. 

^  It  ought  to  be  here  observed,  that  Africanus  perhaps  did  not  in  his  1st  and 
2d  dynasty  copy  after  Manetho.  Manetho  gave  a  list  of /2a<r/Ato;'  raviTur.  Vid. 
Chronograph.  But  Africanus's  1st  and  2d  dynasties  are  not  of  Tanite  but 
0UVITUV,  of  the  kings  of  This,  or  Thinite  kings  ;  so  that  Africanus  had  tbund 
here  a  different  catalogue  of  kings  from  Manetho's,  and  did  not  distinguish  it. 

«  Vid.  19th,  20th,  2od  dynast,  in  Chronograph,  in  Syncell.  ubi  sup. 

'  Meros  numeros  inaniteV  turgentes.     Marsham.  Call.  Chron.  p.  5. 

"  Qux  _  Manetho  f^iafuv  upmv  et^^iipiui;  ■)pcLfii  -^(uSii-ycpaiv  •ra-f/x  Sreenv  hS'itoti 
yi-yovoTcev,  ista  omnia  tanquam  Scriptore  Christi.mo  indigna  Africanus  asperna- 
tur,  et  in  illud  tempus  rejicit,  quod  prxcessit  diluvium.     Marsham,  p,  5, 


142  SACRED  AND  PROFANE        BOOK  XI. 

of  which  Manetho  supposed  his  dynasties  to  consist.  Mane- 
tho  accounted  all  Egypt,  from  its  rise  to  Nectanebus,  as  hav- 
ing been  only  one  empire;  and  considering  it  as  such,  he  de- 
duced one  continued  history  of  the  kings,  who  had  had  the 
supreme  rule  in  it.  But  as  he  supposed  that  the  seat  of  this 
empire  had  been  at  ditferent  times  in  different  cities;  and 
agreeably  hereto,  as  his  dynasties  were  sometimes  of  kings 
of  Tanis,  sometimes  of  Memphis,  and  sometimes  of  Diospolis, 
according  as  he  thought  the  kings  who  had  the  supreme  com- 
mand reigned  at  this  or  that  city  ;  and  as  it  might  happen, 
whilst  the  kings  of  a  Memphite  or  Theban  dynasty  were  at 
the  head  of  affairs,  there  might  be  in  Manetho's  account 
deputy -rulers  at  Tanis,  Bubastus,  Elephantis,  or  other  cities; 
so  from  hence  Africanus  might  have  an  opportunity  of  ma- 
king a  Tanite  dynasty,  an  Elephantine,  a  JNIemphite,  and  a  Bu- 
bastite  more  than  Manetho  ever  supposed.  The  names  of  the 
kings  suggested  by  Africanus  in  these  dynasties  were  perhaps 
to  be  found  in  Manetho's  history.  But  Manetho  might  record 
them  as  tributary  or  deputy-rulers  to  some  of  the  kings  of  the 
dynasties  he  treated  of;  Africanus  supposed  them  independ- 
ent, and  made  dynasties  appropriated  to  them.  3.  Africanus's 
15th  dynasty  contains  the  names  of  the  Pastor  kings,  and 
their  names  were  to  be  found  in  Manetho  ;^  but  Manetho  did 
not  relate  these  Pastors  as  being  a  part  of  the  Egyptian  suc- 
cession of  kings;  but  rather  noted  them  as  having  invaded 
and  dispossessed  some  of  the  Egyptian  kings  of  a  great  part 
of  Egypt ;  and  accordingly  only  mentions  them  as  being  in 
Egypt  in  the  times  of  those  kings.  4.  Manetho  had  mentioned 
fifteen  kings  of  Thebais,  five  in  his  19th  dynasty,  eight  in 
his  20th,  and  two  in  his  2.3d;'*  Africanus  has  named  as  many 
in  his  nth,  12th,  and  19th  dynasties.  He  farther  found 
several  Theban  kings'  names  in  Josephus,  said  to  be  taken 
from  Manetho;*  which  he  also  collected,  and  made  of  them 
liis  18th  dynasty.^  But  he  should  have  observed,  that  Jose- 
phus has,  through  some  mistake,  multiplied  the  names  of 
these  kings,  beyond  what  Manetho  intended;  and  farther, 
there  is  such  a  repetition  and  similitude  of  names  in  this  dy- 
nasty, and  in  Africanus's  11th,  12th,  and  19th,  that  it  seems 
most  probable,  that  they  give  only  the  same  kings  with  some 
small  diversity  in  naming  them  ;  and  that  fifteen  kings,  rightly 
chosen  out  of  the  names  mentioned  in  these  four  dynasties, 
would  give  the  true  reigns  which  Manetho  has  recorded.  5. 
The  dynasties,  suggesting  reigns  without  names  of  kings, 
•were  perhaps  added  by  Africanus  from  the  intimations  of 
Herodotus;"  or,  from  the  time  when  Manetho's  account  came 

•T  Vid.  Joseph,  contra  Aplon.  lib.  i,  c.  14. 
*  Vid.  Chronoj^raph.  in  Syncell  p.  ol. 

'^  Joseph,  ubi  sup.  *'  Syncell.  p.  69. 

'  Herodotus  computes  about  three  hundred  and  sixty-eight  kuigs  down  to 
'^"ambyscs.     Vid.  Histor.  lib.  ii,  lib.  iii 


UOOK  XI.  HISTORY  CONNECTED.  143 

to  be  generally  esteemed  deficient.  Soon  after  Eratosthenes 
had  published  his  catalogue,  it  might  become  customary  for 
the  learned  to  annotate  upon  their  copies  of  the  tomes  of  Ma- 
netho,  what  kings'  names,  and  what  reigns  they  conceived 
he  had  omitted  in  every  part  of  his  history:  and  from  some 
transcripts  of  such  enlarged  copies  of  the  tomes  of  Manetho, 
Africanus,  who  did  not  write  till  near  five  hundred  years 
after  him,  might  apprehend,  that  such  dynasties  as  he  has 
given,  might  be  collected  from  the  books  of  Manetho. 

If  the  reader  will  take  the  pains  to  inspect  Africanus's  ac- 
count of  the  dynasties,  and  compute  the  number  of  reigns, 
and  years  of  the  reigns  contained  in  them,  he  will  find  the 
kings,  named  and  not  named,  to  be  together  in  number  four 
hundred  and  seventy-three,  down  to  the  end  of  Nectanebus's 
reign;  and  that  the  sum  of  all  their  reigns  amounts  to  four 
thousand  eight  hundred  and  twenty-three  years  four  months 
and  ten  days.  But  Africanus  could  not  intend  to  bring  such 
a  length  of  Egyptian  history  within  the  compass,  that  his 
work  could  allow  for  it;  because  whoever  will  consider  the 
nature  of  his  epochs  and  chronology,  in  what  year  of  the 
world  he  supposed  Noah's  flood  to  have  happened,  and  to 
what  year  he  fixed  the  end  of  Nectanebus's  reign,  Avill  see, 
that  he  could  not  have  above  the  space  of  two  thousand  eight 
hundred  and  eighty  years  for  the  Egyptian  history.  And 
unquestionably  in  the  second  part  of  his  work,  when  he  came 
to  use  the  collections  he  had  made,  lie  brought  his  dynasties 
down  to  about  this  measure;  which  he  might  readily  do,  if, 
in  composing  his  chronicle,  he  rejected  the  reigns  as  fictitious, 
which  have  no  names  of  kings  annexed  to  them,  and  took  into 
his  history  only  the  kings,  whose  names  he  has  given;  for 
the  kings  so  named  by  him  are  in  number  only  one  hundred 
and  twenty-eight,  and  the  times  of  their  reigns  amount  to  two 
thousand  nine  hundred  and  eighty-three^  years.  Besides, 
Africanus  might  apprehend  from  Diodorus  Siculus,  who 
flourished  in  the  times  of  Julius  Caesar,^  long  after  Herodotus 
and  Manetho,  and  who  had  been  in  Egypt  for  information  as 
well  as  Herodotus,^  that  Herodotus's  enlarged  catalogue  of 
kings  of  Egypt  ought  probably  to  be  reduced  to  about  this 
number.^  In  this  manner  I  would  consider  the  work  of 
Africanus,  and  think  of  him;  not  that  he  made  imaginary  dy- 
nasties, and  altered  and  interpolated  Manetho  just  as  his  fancy 


s  If  \vc  may  suppose  in  this  number  a  mistake  of  one  hundred  years,  which 
is  no  great  matter,  considering  how  often  the  translators  might  miscalculate, 
or  write  erroneously  the  old  numeral  characters,  we  shall  have  a  numbei' 
suited  to  Africanus's  Chronology. 

9  rrideau.K,  Connect,  part,  ii,  b,  vii,  ad.  ann.  60;  Voss.  de  Hist.  Grsec.  lib. 
ii.  c.  2.     . 

'  Dindor.  lib.  i,  c.  4,  p.  44. 

2  Diodorus  suggests  about  one  hundred  and  thirty  kings  of  Egypt.  Hist. 
lib.  !. 


144  SACRED  AND  PROFANE  BOOK  XI. 

led  him,^  for  this  would  be  to  make  him  a  most  romantic 
writer;  but  rather,  1.  That  he  took  into  his  dynasties  what 
he  thought  Manctho  had  duly  adjusted  to  true  history,  and  of 
this  sort  we  may  suppose  his  1st,  3d,  4th,  11th,  12th,  19th, 
21st,  23d,  24th,  25th,  26th,  27th,  28th,  29th,  30th,  answering 
to  Manetho's  fifteen  dynasties  from  the  16th  to  the  30th.-'  2. 
He  added  to  these  in  oilier  d)'nasties,  some  names  of  kings 
mentioned  in  Manetho  as  having  reigned  in  Egypt;  but  he 
differed  from  Manetho,  I  take  it,  in  a  material  point  about 
these  kings.  He  deduced  their  reigns  in  dynasties  made  for 
them,  as  if  they  had  continued  and  brought  down  the  Egyp- 
tian  succession.  Manetho  did  not  suppose  that  any  of  these 
kings  had  reigned  in  times  distinct  from  the  Egyptian;  but 
rather  that  they  were  deputies  to,  or  usurpers,  who  held  and 
kept  some  parts  of  Egypt  from  the  rightful  sovereigns  their 
CO  temporaries,  kings  of  the  true  Egyptian  line.  Of  these 
Africanus  perhaps  made  his  2d,  5th,  6th,  loth,  and  22d  dy- 
nasties. 3.  Africanus  found  numerous  additions  of  nameless 
reigns  suggested  by  annotators  as  belonging  to  Manetho's 
tornes,  agreeably  to  what  Herodotus  had  written  of  the  Egyp- 
tian history.  He  took  these  also  into  his  collection,  and  made 
of  them  his  7th,  8th,  9th,  10th,  13th,  14th,  16th,  17th,  and  20th 
dynasties;  though  he  discarded  these  again  when  he  came  to 
compose  from  the  materials  he  had  collected,  supposing  that 
Manetho  had  really  given  no  more  kings,  than  what  there 
were  names  to  be  found  in  his  books.  4.  Africanus  collected 
his  18th  dynasty,  as  I  have  said,*  from  Josephus.  5.  The  31st 
dynasty  might  be  added  to  Manetho  by  some  later  hand,  who 
was  minded  to  remark  the  Persian  kings  unto  whom  Egypt 
became  tributary  ;  and  being  thus  transcribed  into  some  copies 
of  Manetho,  it  might  come  down  to  Africanus,  and  not  be  re- 
jected by  him.  If  we  consider  Africanus's  work  in  this  light, 
we  shall  do  justice  to  his  character;**  allow  him  to  have  been 
a  serious  and  considerable  writer,  who  took  true  pains  to  give 
what  he  judged  a  reasonable  account  of  Manetho's  perform- 
ance, such  as  might  represent  it  agreeing  with  what  he  re- 
puted the  true  chronology  of  the  world. 

VI.  Pamphilus  Eusebius,  bishop  of  Cresarea  in  Palestine, 
wrote  abou!  a  century  after  Africanus.  His  Chronicon  was  a 
work  of  the  same  nature  with  Africanus's  Chronographia: 
which  he  divided  into  two  parts.  The  former  part  contained 
the  Materia  Chrouologica  for  a  universal  history;  in  the  se- 

3  Sir  John  Marsliain  says  of  him,  Maximus  Manetlionis  interpolator  Afri- 
caniis  vetustiores  suas  dynastias  (sicjuid  video)  ex  mero  siio  ipsius  arbitrio 
di^p'isuit :  si  penitiiis  insp  ciamus,  alias  illanim  fnistula  tantiim  esse  dynas- 
tiaiMim,  alias  reperieiniis  meros  esse  nuiiieros  inaiiiter  turgcntcs.  Marshura, 
Can.  Cliron.  p.  5 

4  Vid   Chronoffraph.  in  Syncell.  p.  51,  52.  5  vid.  qiisc  sup. 

G  .lulius  AiVicantis  accuraVissiiniis  temporum  observ.itor.  Vossius  de  Hist. 
Grxc.  lib  ii,  C.  15.  Ap/xxjtm  ^govayf^Utv  o-'SrSiAtir^aTX  st  ctxei^H  irinyn un/st . 
Uuseb.  Ecclesiastic.  Histor.  lib.  vi,  c.  31. 


BOOK  XI.  HISTORY  CONNECTED.  145 

cond  he  ranged  and  synchronized  such  of  the  materials  col- 
lected in  the  former  part,  as  he  intended  to  make  use  of;  so  as 
to  give  in  one  view  a  concurrent  plan  of  the  sacred  and  profane 
history.  Eusebius  began  this  part  of  his  work  from  the  birth 
of  Abraham,  and  carried  it  down  to  the  20th  year  of  Constan- 
tino the  Great/  In  his  former  part,  amongst  other  collec- 
tions, were  the  dynasties  of  Manetho,  taken  in  a  great  mea- 
sure from  Africanus's  account  of  them ;  though  in  some  points 
he  differed  from  Africanus  sufficiently  to  show  that  he  did 
not  think  Africanus  had  ascertained  indisputably  the  dynas- 
ties of  Manetho.  Eusebius  represents  that  the  dynasties  down 
to  Nectanebus  contained  the  names  of  only  ninety-three  kings; 
and  that  the  reigns  which  have  no  names  of  kings  affixed  to 
them  were  only  two  hundred  and  fifty-nine.  But  I  would 
not  carry  the  reader  into  a  tedious  discussion  of  every  little 
difference  between  Africanus  and  Eusebius  upon  this  subject. 
Their  dynasties  are  described  at  large  in  Syncellus;^  and 
whoever  would  examine  this  subject  more  curiously,  may,  by 
consulting  his  work,  set;  uiid  cuiupare  them  with  one  another. 
However,  I  must  observe,  that  Eusebius  certainly  took  great 
liberty,  in  order  to  form  the  dynasties  to  his  own  purpose; 
sometimes  following  Africanus,  and  sometimes  the  Epitome 
of  Manetho  added  to  the  Chronographeon  above-mentioned, 
and  making  no  scruple  to  vary  from  both,  if  his  scheme  re- 
quired it.  For,  1.  His  scheme  was  to  synchronize  the  last 
year  of  Nectanebus,  where  Manetho's  work  ended,  with  the 
1667th  year  from  the  birth  of  Abraham;^  and  to  fix  to  the 
birth  of  Abraham  the  beginning  of  the  1 6th  Egyptian  dynasty.^ 
He  supposes  that  dynasty  to  contain  five  Theban  kings  ;2 
herein  he  followed  neither  the  Epitome  of  Manetho,^  nor 
Africanus;^  however  the  Epitome  suggesting  that  Manetho 
had  ascribed  one  hundred  and  ninety  years  to  the  1 6th  dy- 
nasty, Eusebius  writes  to  it  the  same  number.  Having  thus 
fixed  in  what  pai't  of  the  dynasties  he  should  begin  his  ac- 
count, and  what  interval  of  years  he  had  to  fill  up  with  Egyp- 
tian reigns,  he  proceeded  as  follows :  2.  He  observed,  that 
the  Epitome  computed  one  hundred  and  three  years  as  the 
contents  of  the  17th  dynasty;*  and  accordingly  he  ascribes  to 
it  the  same  number  of  years.  The  Epitome  styles  this  dy- 
nasty Memphite ;  but  Eusebius  knowing,  that  Manetho  had 
mentioned  the  Pastor  kings,  and  counting  down  from  the 
birth  of  Abraham,  and  computing  this  dynasty  as  reaching  to 
the  times  of  the  Israelites  being  in  Egypt;  and  conceiving 


'  Euseb.  Chron.;  Mai-sham,  p.  6.  »  Syncell.  p.  54—78. 

9  Euseb.  Clu-on.  ad  num.  a^^^,  p.  175.  '  Id.  ad.  num.  a  p.  89. 

2  Syncell.  p.  61  ;  Euseb.  Chron.  p.  15. 

^  Tav/Tav  ir.    J'ljvu^eut  yinuv  ti.  i^m  ph.     Epit.  Syncell.  p.  51. 
*  EKK3u<fawtTH  Ji/var«*  Troijum;  Eaxsvec  Sutikuc  ?.^  i&taiMuj-uv  «r«  ein.  African. 
in  Syncell.  p.  61. 
s'Syncell.  p.  51. 
Vol.   III.  T 


146  SACKED  AND  PROFANE  BOOK  XI. 

that  some  of  the  Egyptian  kings  had  been  called  Pastor  kings 
from  their  receiving  and  entertaining  Jacob  and  his  children, 
a  family  of  shepherds;  he  took   from   hence  his  title  to  this 
dynasty,*^  and  called  it  the  Pastor  dynasty.     3.  The  Epitome 
supposes  the  18th  dynasty  to  be  Memphite,  the  number  of 
kings  fourteen,   the  sum  of  their   years  three  hundred  and 
forty-eight,"     Africanus's   18th  dynasty    is  Diospolitan,    the 
number  of  its  kings  sixteen,  the  sum  of  the  years  of  their 
reigns  two  hundred  and  eighty-four.^     Here  Eusebius,  as  to 
the  title  of  the  dynasty  and  number  of  reigns  in  it,  corrects 
the  Epitome  by  Africanus ;  but  in  the  sum  of  years  in  the 
reigns,  he  corrects  Africanus  by  the  Epitome,   making  his 
I8th  dynasty  Diospolitan,  and  to  contain  sixteen  kings,  and 
their  reigns  to  amount  to  three  hundred  and  forty-eight  years. ^ 
4.  In  the  Epitome  the  19th  dynasty  is  Diospolitan,  the  kings 
in  it  are  five,  the  sum  of  years  in  their  reigns  one  hundred 
and  ninety-four:*  Africanus's  19th  dynasty  is  likewise  Dios- 
politan, the  kings  in  it  are  seven,  their  reigns  two  hundred 
and  ten  years  ;^  but  here  Euscbiua  takes  the  numbers  of  the 
Epitome,   and  sets   down  five  kings  and   one  hundred   and 
ninety-four  years.^     5.  In  the  20th  dynasty  his  management 
is  remarkable.    The  Epitome  supposes  this  dynasty  Diospoli- 
tan,-*  and  Africanus  gives  it  this  title.^     The  Epitome  num- 
bers in  it  eight  reigns  of  two  hundred  and  twenty-eight  years; 
Africanus  twelve  kings;  but  has  no  names  of  any  of  them; 
he  supposes  their  reigns  to  amount  to  one  hundred  and  thirty- 
five  years.     Eusebius  here  copies  after  Africanus,  both  in  the 
number  of  the  kings,  and  in  not  having  the  names  of  any  of 
them;  but  differs  from  him  in  the  sum  of  their  years,  which 
he    sets   down    one    hundred   and    seventy-eight.     Eusebius 
seems  to  me  to  have  chosen  this  dynasty  to  be  the  closure  of 
his  plan.     All  the  other  dynasties  which  he  used  have  the 
names  of  the  kings  belonging  to  them;  upon  which  account 
he  was  more  obliged  to  fix  them  a  number  of  years,  such  as 
he  had  some  appearance  of  authority  to  justify,  either  from 
the  Epitome  or  from  Africanus.     But  having  here  a  dynasty 
without  names  of  kings  contained  in  it,  he  could  affix  to  it, 
without  hazard  of  contradiction,  such  a  number  of  years,  as 
his  other  dynasties  would  fall  short  of  one  thousand  six  hun- 
dred and  sixty-seven,  which  n^is  the  term  to  be  filled  up  by 
him.     6.  The  Epitome   and  Africanus  agree  to  call  the  21st 
dynasty  Tanite;  the  Epitome  gives  it  six  reigns,  one  hun- 
dred and  twenty-one  years;  Africanus  seven  reigns,  one  hun- 

6  Rc-_fijes  iEgjptioriim  Pastores  conjicimiis  nunciipatos  propter  Josepli  et 
frates  ejus,  qui  in  principio  pastores  descendisse  in  j^gyptum  comprobantur 
Chron.  Euseb.  Lut.  p.  64. 

■?  S\ncell.  p.  51.  s  la.  p.  &2—72. 

9  Euseb.  Chron,  a  num.  <rhJ  p.  101.  ad  num.  xf^C.  p.  118. 

«  Syncell.  p.  51  2  Id.  p.  72. 

'  Euseb.  Cliron.  a  num.  x/^^-  P-  118.  ad  num.  u>\i.  p.  128. 

*  Syncell.  p.  51.  5  id.  p.  To. 


BOOK  XI.  HISTORY  CONNECTED.  14? 

dred  and  thirty  years  :^  Eusebius  takes  here  the  numbers  of 
Africanus.  7.  The  Epitome  calls  the  22d  dynasty  Tanite,  its 
reigns  are  three,  years  of  reigns  forty-eight.^  Africanus 
makes  here  a  Bubastite  dynasty,  and  supposes  its  reigns  three, 
years  forty-nine:^  Eusebius  takes  the  title  of  the  Epitome, 
and  the  numbers  of  Africanus.^  8.  The  23d  dynasty  in  the 
Epitome  is  Diospolitan,  contains  two  kings,  their  reigns 
amount  to  nineteen  years  ;^  in  Africanus  it  is  Tanite,  consists 
of  four  kings,  whose  reigns  make  up  eighty-nine  years.^  Eu- 
sebius gives  it  Africanus's  title,  but  describes  in  it  three  kings, 
and  computes  their  reigns  to  be  forty-four  years.^  9,  The 
24th  dynasty  is  Saitan,  both  according  to  the  Epitome  and 
Africanus/  The  Epitome  supposes  it  to  contain  three  reigns 
of  forty-four  years;  Africanus  says,  one  reign  of  six  years. 
Eusebius  agrees  with  both  as  to  the  title,  but  ascribes  it  to 
Africanus's  first  reign,  with  forty-four,  the  number  of  years 
set  down  to  it  in  the  Epitome.*  10.  The  Epitome  and  Afri- 
canus agree  that  the  25th  dynasty  consisted  of  three  Ethio- 
pian kings,  and  their  reigns  to  be  forty-four  years ;^  and 
herein  Eusebius  concurs  with  them.^  11.  The  Epitome  supr 
poses  the  26th  dynasty  to  consist  of  seven  Memphite  kings, 
who  reigned  one  hundred  and  seventy-seven  years.^  Afri- 
canus represents  that  it  contained  nine  Saitan  kings,  who 
reigned  one  hundred  and  fifty  years  six  months.^  Eusebius 
gives  it  Africanus's  title  and  number  of  kings,  but  makes  the 
years  of  their  reigns  one  hundred  and  sixty-seven.^  12.  The 
27th  dynasty  is,  according  to  the  Epitome,  Persian,  and  con- 
tains the  reigns  of  five  kings  in  one  hundred  and  twenty -four 
years.^  Africanus  reckons  it  also  Persian,  but  computes  that 
eight  kings,  reigning  one  hundred  and  twenty  years  four 
months,  belonged  to  it.^  Eusebius  styles  it  Persian,  and  sets 
down  in  it  seven  kings,  reigning  one  hundred  and  eleven 
years.'*  But  these  differences  may  be  accounted  for.  Egypt 
came  into  subjection  to  the  Persians,  when  Cambyses  was 
king  of  Persia,*  and  recovered  its  liberty  in  the  reign  of  Da- 
rius Nothus;^  and  some  writers  not  taking  into  their  accounts 
the  Persian  kings,  who  did  not  reign  a  full  year,  might  reckon 
but  five  kings  from  the  one  to  the  other.  Others  might 
number,  in  their  lists  of  Persian  kings,  Smerdes  the  Magian. 

6  Syncell.  ubi  sup.  '  Id,  ibid.  s  Id.  p.  73. 
9  Euseb  Chronic,  a  num.  a.f^f/.S',  p.  144,  ad  num.  ttp^C.  p.  147. 

>  Syncell.  ubi  sup.  "  Syncell.  p.  74, 

3  Euseb.  Chron.  a  num.  afihy.  p.  147.  ad  num.  cktkt.  p.  149. 

4  Syncell.  p.  52,  74. 

5  Euseb.  Chron.  a  num.  ufA^.  p.  149,  ad  num.  mttt,  p.  152. 
^  Syncell.  ubi  sup. 

7  Euseb.  Chron.  a  num.  a.<T7r:t.  p.  152,  ad  num.  jitx^.  p.  155. 

8  Syncell,  p.  52.  9  Id.  p.  75. 

>  Euseb.  Chron.  a  num.  ariu-  p.  155.  ad  num.  att/H*.  p.  164. 
2  Syncell.  p.  52.  3  Id,  p.  76, 

*  Euseb.  Chron.  a  num.  auHf  p.  I64.  ad  num.  ayry.  p.  172. 

«  Prideaux,  Connect,  part  i,  b.  iii.  *>  Id.  b.  vi. 


148  SACRED  AND  PROFANE        BOOK  XI. 

who  reigned  some  months,  after  him  Darius  Hystaspes,  then 
Xerxes,  then  Artaxerxes,  then  the  son  of  Artaxerxes,  who 
reigned  but  two  months,  then  Sogdianus,  who  reigned  seven 
months,  and  then  Darius  Nothus,^  and  so  with  Cambyses  make 
eight  Persian  kings  in  this  dynasty.     In  like  manner,  if  the 
years  of  this  dynasty  be  computed,  from  the  first  year  of  Cam- 
byses's  reign  in  Persia  to  the  last  year  of  Darius  Nothus,  they 
will  amount  to  one  hundred  and  twenty-four,  the  number  in 
the  Epitome.     If  they  be  reckoned  from  the  fourth  or  fifth 
year  of  Cambyses,  the  year  in  which  the  Persians  conquered 
Egypt,  they  may  amount  to  about  Africanus's  number,  one 
luindred  and  twenty  years  four  months.     If  they  be  more 
strictly  calculated,  from  Cambyses's  conquest   of  Egypt   to 
Amyrteus's  being  made  king  upon  the  revolt  of  the  Egyptians 
from  Darius  Nothus,  in  about  the  tenth  year  of  Darius's  reign," 
the  interval  will  be,  as  Euscbius  reckons  it,  one  hundred  and 
eleven  years,    13,  As  to  the  28th,  29th,  and  30th  dynasties,  if 
we  allow  for  little  mistakes,  which  may   easily  happen    in 
transcribing  numbers;  and  consider  that  Tanite,  Mendesian, 
and  Sebcnnite  may  be  synonymous  terms,  Mendes  and  Se- 
benneh  having  been  cities  of  the  land  of  Zoan  or  Tanis,'^  these 
dynasties  in  the  Epitome,  in  Africanus,  and  in  Eusebius,  may 
be  conceived  to  have  been  the  same.     Of  this  sort  the  reader, 
if  he  examines  it,  will  fmcl  tho  wm-k  of  Eusebius,  n«;  far  as  it 
relates  to  the  Egyptian  dynasties,     Manetho  had  left  only 
fifteen  dynasties  of  mortal  kings;  for  his  other  fifteen  treated 
of  gods,  demi-gods,  and  heroes  of  a  superior  race.^    Upon  this 
account  Eusebius,  in  composing  his  Chronicon,  rejected  fifteen 
of  Africanus's  dynasties,  reputing  them  prior  to  the  times,  of 
which  he  could  hope  to  find  any  true  history;  and  having  se- 
lected the  fifteen  dynasties  of  Africanus  from  the  16th  to  the 
30th,  and  new  modelled  them,  by  comparing  them  with  the 
like  dynasties  added  in  the  Epitome  in  the  old  Chronogra- 
pheon;  sometimes  giving  his  dynasties   titles  and    numbers 
from  the  Epitome,  sometimes  from  Africanus,  and  now  and 
then  varying  from  both,  if  his  purpose  required  it;  and  hav- 
ing thus  formed  such  a  series  of  Egyptian  reigns  as  would 
fill  up  his  interval  between  the  birth  of  Abraham  and  the 
flight  of  Ncctanebus,  he  gave  himself   no   fiirther    trouble; 
though  one  would  think,  he  must  have  seen,  that  lie  might 
rather  be  said  to  have  made  a  way  to  give  the  dynasties  some 
appearance  of  an  agreement  with  his  chronology,  than  have 
given  any  true  and  just  account  of  them. 

VII,  Syncellus  is  the  next  writer  to  whom  we  are  to  go  for 
the  Egyptian  antiquities.  He  composed  his  Chronographia 
about  the  year  of  our  Lokd  800  f  and  transcribed  into  it  what 

'  Consult  Dean  Prideaux's  History  of  these  limes. 

8  See  Prideaux's  Connection,  pari  i,  b.  6. 

^  Strabo  Geopcraph.  '   Vid.  qux  sup.  de  Manetlione. 

•  Marsham's  Can,  Chron.  p.  7;  Vossius  de  Historic,  Grxc.  lib,  ii,c.  24. 


BOOK  XI.  HISTORY  CONNECTED.  149 

remains  he  could  find  of  the  more  ancient  writers,  and  some 
extracts  from  others,  who  had  composed  before  him  a  work 
of  like  nature  witli  what  he  attempted.  Accordingly  we  find 
in  him  the  contents  of  the  old  Chronographeon,^  of  Manetho's 
dynasties,''  of  Africanus's,*  and  of  Eusebius's,*^  agreeably  to 
what  he  judged  to  be  the  scheme  and  purport  of  each.  In 
many  places  we  have  his  strictures  and  observations,  as  he 
goes  along,  upon  the  matters  offered  by  them ;  and  has  also 
given  us  Eratosthenes's  catalogue  of  the  Thebaean  kings.^  He 
remarks,  tliat  the  dynasty  writers  must  have  supposed  that 
their  27th  dynasty,  which  they  call  Persians,  had  begun 
when  Cambyses  king  of  Persia  conquered  Egypt.*'  Amasis 
was  king  of  Egypt  at  that  time;''  and  to  this  Amasis  he  brings 
down  a  list  of  eighty-six  kings  of  Egypt,  from  Menes  their 
first  king,  setting  against  each  king's  name  the  years  of  his 
reign  as  follows:  I.  Mestraim  or  Menes  reigned  35  years. 
II.  Curudes  63.  III.  Aristarchus  34.  IV.  Spanius  36.  V.  and 
VI.  Two  kings,  whose  names  are  lost,  their  reigns  amounted 
to  72  years.  VII.  Serapis  23.  VIII.  Sejouchosis  49.  IX. 
Amenemes  29.^  X.  Amasis  2.  XI.  Achesepthres  13.  XII. 
Achoreus  9.     XIII.  Armiyses  4.     XIV.  Chamois  12.^     XV. 

Amesises  65.  XVI. 14.  XVII.  Use  50.  XVIII.  Harnesses 

29.3  XIX.  Ramessomenes  15.  XX.  Thusimares  31.  XXI.  Ra- 
messe-seos  23.  XXII.  Ramesse-menos  19.  XXIII.  Ramesse- 
Tubaete  39.''  XXIV.  Ramess^-Vaphris  29.  XXV.  Concharis 
5.^  XXVI.  Silites  19.*^  XXVII.  Baeon  44.^  XXVIII.  Apachnas 
36.  XXIX.  Apophis61.«  XXX.  Sethos  50.  XXXI.  Certus,  ac- 
cording to  Josephus  29  years,  according  to  Manetho  44. 
XXXII.  Aseth  20.«  XXXIII.  Amosis,  who  was  also  called 
Tethmosis,  22.^  XXXIV.  Chebron  13.  XXXV.  Amephes  15. 
XXXVI.  Amenses  11.  XXXVII.  Misphragmuthosis  16. 
XXXVIII.  Misphres  23.  XXXIX.  Tuthmosis  39.^  XL. 
Amenophtis  34.'  XLI.  Horus  48.  XLII.  Achencheres  25. 
XLIII.  Athoris  29.  XLIV.  Chencheres  26."  XLV.  Acheres 
S,  or  30.  XLVI.  Armaeus,  or  Danaus,  9.*  XLVII.  Ramesses, 
who  was  also  called  ^gyptus,  68.  XLVIII.  Amenophis  8. 
XLIX.  Thuoris  17.    L.^Nechepsus  19.    LI.  Psammuthis  13. 

LIL 4.^     LIII.  Certus  20.     LIV  Rhampsis  45.^     LV. 

Amenses,  or  Amenemes,  26.^      LVI.  Ochyras   14.     LVII. 


3  Syncell.  p.  51.  "  Ibid.  p.  52.  ^  jj.  p.  54—77, 

c  Ibid.  7  Ibid.  p.  91,  &c. 

3  Syncell.  p.  210.  ^  Id.  ibid. 

I  Ibid.  p.  91;  vid.  Euseb.  Chron.  p.  17,  18.  2  xtt/uoti  xr.  Euseb.  p.  18. 

■»  Syncell.  p.  96  ;  vid.  Euseb.  Chron.  p.  18. 

1  Syncell.  p.  101 ;  Euseb.  p.  20.  5  Syncell.  p.  103  ;  Euseb.  21. 

fi  Syncell.  p.  104;  Euseb.  21.  "^  BAtm  a^.    Euseb.  22. 

a  Syncell.  p.  108;  Euseb.  22.  ^  Aa-nd-  Ki'  in  niargine  Syncell.  p.  123. 

1  Syncell.  ibid. ;  Euseb.  23.  2  Svncell.  p.  147 ;  Euseb.  25. 

■'  Syncell.  p.  151 ;  Euseb.  26.  *  Id.  ibid. 

-i  Syncell.  p.  155  ;  Euseb.  29.  «  Et«  k.    Euseb.  30. 

■  iT»  /f.  Euseb.  30,  *  Syncell.  p.  160;  Euseb.  30, 


150  SACRED  AND  PROFANE  BOOK  XI. 

Amedes27.  LVIII.  Thuoris  50.^  LIX.  Athothis  28.  LX. 
Cencenes  39.  LXI.  Venephes  42.i  LXII.  Sussachim  34.2 
LXIII.  Psuenus  25.  LXIV.  Ammenophes  9.  LXV.  Nephe- 
cheres  6.  LXVI.  Saites  15.  LXVII.  Psinaches  9.  LXVIII. 
Petubastes  44.  LXIX.  Osorthron  9.  LXX.  Psammus  10. 
LXXI.  Concharis  21. ^  LXXII.  Osorthron  15.  LXXIII.  Ta- 
celophes  13.  LXXIV.  Bocchoris  44.  LXXV.  Sabacon  ^thi- 
ops  12.  LXXVI.  Sebechon  12.^  LXXVII.  Taracas  20. 
LXXVIII.  Amaes  38.  LXXIX.  Stephinates  27.  LXXX. 
Nachepsus  13.*  LXXXI.  Nechaab  8.  LXXXII.  Psammiti- 
chus  14.  LXXXIII.  Nechaab  the  second,  called  Pharaoh,  9. 
LXXXI V.  Psammuthis,  or  Psammitichus  the  second,  17. 
LXXXV.  Vaphres  34.  LXXXVI.  Amasis  50.*^ 

It  is  queried  by  the  learned,  whence  Syncellus  collected 
this  series  of  Egyptian  kings.''  Scaliger  supposed  that  he  had 
found  it  in  the  Chronicon  of  Eusebius;  and  accordingly  in  his 
nttempt  to  retrieve  that  work,  he  has  inserted  these  kings 
amongst  others  of  Eusebius's  collections.  But  in  this  point 
Scaliger  must  have  been  mistaken  ;  we  have  no  reason  to 
imagine  that  this  catalogue  had  ever  been  in  Eusebius.  It 
seems  rather  to  have  been,  a  great  part  of  it,  Syncellus's  own 
composition,  who  imagined  he  could  in  this  manner  deduce 
the  Egyptian  kings.  If  the  reader  will  strictly  examine,  he 
will  find  that  the  kings,  from  the  forty-ninth  to  the  eighty- 
sixth,  might  be  taken  from  Africanus's  19th,  21st,  22d,  23d. 
24th,  25th,  and  26th  dynasties;  only  Syncellus  has  now  and 
then  added  or  repeated  a  name  of  a  king  or  two,  and  given 
new  numbers  to  all  their  reigns,  such  probably  as  suited  the 
scheme  he  had  formed  for  the  Egyptian  chronology.  From 
the  twenty-third  king  to  the  forty-eighth,  we  have  a  catalogue 
of  Theban  kings  formed  from  considering  and  comparing  Jo- 
sephus's  list  with  Africanus  and  Eusebius's  18th  dynasty. 
The  kings  from  the  twenty-sixth  to  the  thirty-second  are 
taken  from  Josephus,  Africanus,  and  Eusebius's  account  of 
the  Pastor  kings.  From  Mestraim  or  Menes  the  first  king,  to 
Concharis  the  twenty-fifth,  Syncellus  does  indeed  give  a 
series  of  reigns,  which  we  do  not  now  meet  with  in  any 
v^'riter  before  him.  Perhaps,  as  Africanus  mistook,  and  gave 
us  a  series  of  Thinite  kings  in  his  first  and  second  dynasties, 
instead  of  Manetho's  Tanite  kings  ;^  so  here  Syncellus,  from 
some  ancient  quotations  or  remains,  has  happened  upon  the 
succession  of  Tanite  kings,  which  might  begin  INIanetho's 
accounts  of  the  mortal  kings;  though,  I  dare  say,  he  had  no 
true  notion  of  the  nature  of  it.  For  Syncellus  had  certainly 
formed  no  right  judgment  of  the  Egyptian  history ;  as  ap- 

9  Svncell.  p.  169;  Euseb  Chron.  p,  32.  '  Syncell.  p.  170;  Euseb,  33. 

2  Syncell.  p.  177;  Euseb.  34,  3  Ibid. 

*  Syncell.  p.  184;  Euseb.  36,  s  Svncell.  p.  191;  Euseb.  38. 

c  Syncell. p.  210 ;   Euseb.  46,  47.  '  Marsham,  Can. Chron. p. T- 
8  See  the  notes  in  page  144. 


BOOK  XI.  HISTORY  CONNECTED.  151 

pears  evidently  from  his  declaring  that  he  knew  no  use  of, 
nor  occasion  for,  Eratosthenes's  catalogue  of  Theban  kings.-^ 
He  found  the  fragment  above  mentioned;  and  seeing  it  dif- 
fered from  all  other  collections,  he  intended  himself  to  differ 
from  all  others,  who  had  written  before  him  ;  for  which  reason, 
and  probably  for  no  other,  he  began  his  catalogue  with  it.  He 
added  to  it  the  Pastor  and  Theban  kings  from  Josephus,  and 
completed  it  with  taking  as  many  names  of  kings  from  Afri- 
canus  and  other  writers,  as  he  thought  he  wanted  ;  and  having 
taken  the  liberty  to  give  to  the  several  reigns  of  these  later 
kings,  not  the  numbers  of  years  assigned  them  by  the  writers 
from  whom  he  took  them,  but  such  as  might  bring  down  the 
succession  in  a  manner  suitable  to  his  own  chronology,  this 
was  his  attempt  towards  clearing  the  Egyptian  history.^  The 
reader,  if  he  examines,  will  after  all  find  that  Syncellus's  cata- 
logue is  somewhat  too  long  for  the  interval,  to  which  he  in- 
tended to  adjust  it:  but  the  learned  are  apprised,  that  Syncel- 
lus's work  is  in  many  places  inaccurate  in  this  matter. 

VHI.  We  are  in  the  last  place  to  consider  what  our  learned 
countryman  Sir  John  Marsham  has  done  upon  this  subject. 
And,  1.  He  considered  Egypt  as  being  divided  into  four  con- 
current kingdoms  in  the  most  early  ages ;  namely,  into  the 
kingdoms  of  Thebes,  of  This,  of  Memphis,  and  of  Tanis,  or 
Lower  Egypt.^  2.  He  formed  a  canon  or  table,  to  give  the 
reader,  in  one  view,  the  contemporary  kings  of  each  king- 
dom. And,  3.  In  the  execution  of  his  work  in  proper  chap- 
ters, he  endeavours  to  justify  the  position  of  the  kings,  accord- 
ing to  the  succession  assigned  to  them  in  the  respective  co- 
lumns of  his  canon.  The  following  Tables  will  give  the  reader 
a  view  of  Sir  John  Marsham's  succession  of  the  Egyptian 
kings,  from  Menes,  the  first  king  over  all  Egypt,  to  the  times 
of  Sesac,  who  came  against  Jerusalem  in  the  fifth  year  of 
Rehoboam.^ 


9  Vid.  SjTicell.  p.  147. 

1  Sir  J  ;hn  Marshain  says  very  justly  of  Syncellus,  "  Reges  comminiscitur, 
annosque  et  successiones  mutilat  vel  extendit,  prout  ipsi  visum  est,  ut  impiu- 
dentiam  honiinis  noii  possis  non  mirari,  qui  cum  .aliis  rixatur,  ipse  cum  sit  re- 
pi-ehensioni  maxima  obnoxius."     Can.  Cliron.  p.  7. 

^  iMarsham,  Can.  Chron.  p.  24.  3  9  Chvon.  xii,  2,  3. 


152 


SACRED  AND  PROFANE 


BOOK  XI. 


I.  SIR  JOHN  MARSHAM'S  TABLE  OF  KINGS 
OF  EGYPT. 


Kings  of 

Kings  of 

Kings  of 

Kings  of 

Thebes 

This 

Memphis 

Lower  Egypt 

taken  from 

taken  from 

taken  from 

taken  from 

Eratosthenes. 

Manetho. 

Manetho. 

Syncellus. 

Reigned  years, 

1  Menes 62 

1  Menes 62 

Menes  built 

1  Menes,  or 

1  Dynast. 

Memphis 

Mestraim  35 

African.  Syn- 

Herodot.  1.   ii, 

Syncell.  p.  91. 

cell.  p.  54. 

c.  99. 

III.  Dy.  Afric. 

2  Curudes....63 

2  Athothes..59 

2  Athothes..57 

Syncell.  p.  56. 
1  Tosor- 

thrus 29 

3  Aristar- 

2  Tyris 7 

chus 34 

3  Cencenes..31 

3  Athothes..32 

3Mesochrisl7 

4  Soiphis 16 

5Tosertasis  19 

4  Spanius....36 

4  Diabies 19 

4  Venephes  23 

6  Achis 42 

5  *****  32 

5  Pemphos..l8 

5  Usaphas- 
dus 20 

6  Taegar  Ama- 

6  Miebidus  26 

chus    Mom- 

cheiri 79 

7  Semem- 

7  Siphuris...30 

6   *  *  *  *  *  40 

phis 18 

8  Cerpheres  26 

8  Bienaches26 

IV.  Dyn.  Afric. 

7  Serapis 23 

II.  Dyn.  Afric. 

7  Staichus 6 

9  Soris 29 

9  Bochus 38 

8  Sesoncho- 

8  Gosor- 

sis 49 

mies 30 

10  Syphis....63 

9Amenemes29 

9  Mares 26 

10  Keachos  39 

Syncell.  p.  96. 

10  Anoy- 

11  Bino- 

10  Amasis 2 

phes 20 

thris 47 

11  Syphis....66 

1 1  Acheseph- 
thres ,13 

BOOK  XI.  HISTORY  CONNECTEDo 

TABLE  OF  THE  KINGS  OF  EGYPT, 


153 


Continued. 


Kings  of 

Kings  of 

Kings  of 

Kings  of 

Thebes. 

This. 

Memphis. 

Lower  Egypt. 

11  Sirius 18 

12  Achoreus..9 

13  Armiyses  4 

12  Chnubus 

14  Chamois  12 

Gneurus.,22 

1 5  Amesises  65 

13Ranosis...l3 

12  Tlas 17 

14Biyris 10 

13Sethenes41 

16  *  *  *  *   14 

15Saophis...29 

12  Menche- 

res 63 

17  Use 50 

16  Sen-Sao- 

phis 27 

14  Cheres....l7 

15  Nepher- 

18Ramesses29 

17  Mosche- 

cheres 25 

ris 31 

16  Seso- 

13  Ratseses..25 

Syncell.p.  101. 

18  Musthis  33 

chris 48 

14  Bicheres22 

1 9  Ramesso- 
menes 15 

15  Seber- 

20  Thusima- 

17  Chene- 

cheres 7 

res 31 

19  Pammiis 

res 30 

16Thamptis..9 

21  Rames- 

Archondes35 

seos 23 

VI.Dyn.Afric. 

22  Ramesse- 
menos 19 

18  Nechero- 

17  Othoes 

23  Ramesse- 

20  Apappus 

phes 28 

18  Phius 53 

Tubaete...39 

Maximus  100 

19  Methusu- 

Here  the  king- 

phis  7 

Syncell.p.  103. 

dom  of  This 

ended. 

21  Achescus 
Ocaras 1 

Sum  of  the 
Years      ^^^ 

20  Phiops..lOO 

24  Ramesse- 
Vaphres...29 

21  Mentesu- 

22  Nitocris....6 

phis 1 

25  Concharis  6 

22  Nitocris..l2 

Sum  of  the  ^_- 

Sum  of  the  ^,„ 

Sum  of  the  -.„, 

-17-                                          /  Ul 

Years 

V             643 

Years 

\  ears 

Vol.  HL 


154  SACUED  ANJJ  FROIANE  BOOK  XI. 

In  this  manner  Sir  John  Marsham  deduces  the  account  of 
the  ancient  kings  of  Egypt,  down  to  the  time  of  the  Pastors' 
irruption  :^  the  Pastors  invaded  Egypt  in  tlie  reign  of  Timajus.* 
Sir  John  Marsham  supposes  that  Concharis  was  the  king, 
whom  Josei)hus  calls  Timjeus;**  and  agreeably  hereto  Syn- 
celius  conceived  that  Silites  or  Salatis,  who  was  the^  first 
Pastor  king,  had  succeeded  Concharis,  his  twenty-fifth  king 
of  Lower  Egypt. ^  Nitocris  is  thought  to  have  been  the  last 
of  the  crowned  heads  of  Memphis;  for  we  find  in  Africanus 
no  name  of  any  king  of  this  kingdom  after  her;^  therefore 
here  we  are  to  fix  the  period  or  dissolution  of  it,  and  we  find 
that  the  Pastors  over-ran  not  only  Lower  Egypt;  but  took 
JNIemphis^  and  possessed  themselves  of  this  kingdom  also. 
Nitocris  was  queen  not  only  of  Memphis,  but  likewise  of 
Thebes;  for  we  find  her  name  twenty-second  in  Eratosthenes's 
Theban  catalogue.  Sir  John  Marsham  observes,  that  her  pre- 
decessor in  both  kingdoms  reigned  but  one  year,  and  the  king 
before  him  in  both  kingdoms  exactly  a  hundred.^  He  judi- 
ciously concludes  from  hence,  that  Apappus  Maximus,  king 
of  Thebes,  and  Phiops,  king  of  Memphis,  were  but  one  and 
the  same  person,  as  were  also  Acheschus  Ocaras  and  Men- 
tesuphis,  who  succeeded  in  each  kingdom;  and  that  the  king- 
doms of  Memphis  and  Thebes  were  united  two  reigns  at 
least  before  Nitocris.^  She  is  recorded  to  have  reigned  twelve 
years  at  Memphis,  and  six  only  at  Thebes.  I  suppose  that 
Memphis  was,  at  her  coming  to  the  throne,  the  seat  of  her 
kingdom  ;  she  was  obliged  to  retire  out  of  this  country  when 
the  Pastors  invaded  it,  and  after  this  retreat  she  reigned  six 
years  at  Thebes.  The  kingdom  of  This  did  not  last  until  the 
invasion  of  the  Pastors;  very  probably  the  Theban  kings, 
when  they  grew  powerful  by  the  accession  of  the  kingdom 
of  Memphis,  added  this  little  domain  to  their  territories."* 
Upon  these  hints  and  observations.  Sir  John  Marsham  has 
opened  a  prospect  of  coming  at  a  history  of  the  succession  of 
the  kings  of  Egypt;  and  that  in  a  method  so  natural  and  easy, 
that  it  must  approve  itself  to  any  person  who  enters  truly  into 
the  design  and  conduct  of  it.  He  gives  us  Eratosthenes's 
Theban  kings;  he  ranges  with  these,  Syncellus's  twenty-five 
kings  of  Mestraea  or  Lower  Egypt ;^  and  by  taking  Africa- 
nus's  dynasties  in  pieces,  by  separating  the  Thinitc  dynasties 


*  M.arsliam,  ]).  18,  20.  s  Joseph  conira  Ap,  HI),  i,  c.  I4. 

«  Marsham,  p.  91,  98,  Sic.  7  Josephus  coinra  Ap.  lib.  i,  c.  14,  Sec. 

s  Synceli.p.  !03,    04  »  Vid.  Marsham,  Can.  Chron.  p.  90. 

'  Josephus,  contra  Ap.  lib.  i,  r.  14. 

2  QnC-ucev  K.  iSiTiKHjG-iv  ATrATTii;  juirytTOi'  ttrot  *?  ^sLnv  VApn  oepxv  juidv  tru  f, 
toxrikiUTtr  QxCjiu'v  Kt,  iCiTiKiuT-iv  Ay(i(rKi;  Oxap*!  tTO(  oL.  Eratostli.  m  Svncell, 
p  104.  ExTx  i^vAg-am  fi^o-ihiav  MtjufiiTa-v  i  ^lui^  e|«5<r»c  ao£*^£vcc  ^ctriKivHy 
i^nyivtro  f^^xf^  ^"^"'^  P-  '•     MtiTSToi/j;?  tree  ei'.     .African,  in  Syncell.  p.  58. 

3  Ista  regnandi  sequalis  inrequalitas  nimis  insolila  est,  u't  illam  bis  et  simu! 
forUiito  contigisse  credamus.     Marsham,  p.  85. 

*  Id,  ibid.  5  Syncell.  p.  91. 


BOOK  XI.  HISTORY  CONNECTED.  155 

from  the  Memphite ;  by  collecting  the  kings  of  each  title  into 
a  distinct  catalogue,  he  gives  us  two  other  concurrent  lists  of 
the  names  of  the  kings  of  the  other  two  kingdoms. 

There  is  one  difficulty,  which  I  wish  our  very  learned 
author  had  considered  and  discussed  for  us;  which  is,  that 
the  catalogues  of  the  kings  of  three  of  the  four  kingdoms  are 
too  long  to  come  within  the  intervals  of  time,  which  the  true 
chronology  of  the  world  can  allow  for  them.  For  to  begin 
with  Lower  Egypt :  Menes,  or  the  Mizraim  of  Moses,*^  came 
into  this  country  about  A.  M.  Ill 2 J  It  was  a  fen  or  marsh 
in  his  time,*  and  he  does  not  seem  to  have  made  a  long  stay 
in  it.  He  went  forward  and  built  Memphis  f  afterwards,  one 
hundred  and  twenty-four  years  after  the  dispersion  of  man- 
kind,^ A.  M.  1881,  he  went  into  the  country  of  Thebais.  After 
having  made  settlements  here,  he  seems  to  have  come  back 
and  formed  a  kingdom  in  Lower  Egypt  thirty-five  years  before 
his  death;  for  Menes  stands  recorded  king  of  this  country 
only  thirty-five  years  ;^  if  so,  then  this  kingdom  was  founded 
about  A.  M.  1901.^  The  Pastors  came  into  Egypt  about  A.  M. 
2420.'*  The  interval  is  five  hundred  and  twelve  years;  but 
the  twenty-five  kings  of  Lower  Egypt  above  mentioned 
reigned  seven  hundred  and  one  years;  i.  e.  one  hundred  and 
eighty-nine  years  longer  than  wc  can  find  a  space  of  time  for 
them.  In  like  manner,  2.  If  we  consider  the  Theban  kings; 
Mizraim  came  into  this  country  A.  M.  1881,*  let  us  from  this 
year  begin  the  computation  of  his  reign  or  kingdom.  From 
this  year  to  A.  M.  2420,  the  year  of  the  invasion  of  the  Pas- 
tors, are  five  hundred  and  thirty-nine  years;  but  the  reigns 
of  the  Theban  kings,  from  Menes  to  the  twelfth  year  after® 
the  decease  of  Achescus  Ocaras,  the  predecessor  of  Nitocris, 
are  six  hundred  and  eighty-two  years;  so  that  this  catalogue 
reaches  down  beyond  the  incursion  of  the  Pastors  one  hun- 
dred and  seventy  years.  3.  The  kingdom  of  This  is  recorded 
to  begin  from  the  sixty -second  year  iDefore  the  death  of  Me- 
nes;^ from  the  year  of  the  rise  of  the  kingdom  of  Thebes, 
A.  M.  1881.  The  reigns  of  the  kings  of  This  amount  to  fiVe 
hundred  and  ninety-three  years  ;^  but  from  A.  M.  1881  to 
2420,  the  year  of  the  Pastors,  are,  as  I  said,  but  five  hundred 
and  thirty-nine  years;  so  that  this  catalogue  is  too  long  by 

6  See  vol.  i,  b.  iv,  p.  129.  ''  Ibid. 

s  Herodot.  lib.  ii,  c.  4.  ^  Id.  c.  99. 

1  Apollodor.  in  Euseb.  Chron.  p.  18;  Syncell.  p.  147. 

2  Ui?-pciiy.  a  >;a/  M«v»c  «t«  Ki.     Syncell.  p.  91. 

3  Menes  died  A.  M.  1943 ;  see  vol.  i,  b.  iv,  p.  131. 
<  See  vol.  ii,  b.  vii,  p.  156. 

5  Vid.  qux  sup.  and  vol.  i,  b.  iv,  p.  131. 

6  We  must  compute  in  this  manner,  if  we  allow  Achescus  Ocaras  to  have 
been  the  same  person  with  Mentesuphis,  who  was  Nitocris's  predecessor  in 
the  Memphite  catalogue;  and  suppose  Nitocris  to  have  reigned  twelve  years 
at  Memphis,  and  then,  being  obliged  to  quit  that  country  by  tlie  Pastors,  to 
have  reigned  afterwards  six  years  at  Thebes. 

"  African,  in  Syncell.  p.  54.  *  Vid.  Tab.  seu.  Can. 


156  SACRED  AND  PROFANE        BOOK  XI. 

fifty-four  years.  As  to  the  kingdom  of  Memphis,  a  better 
account  of  it  seems  to  offer  itself  to  us.  Mencs  entered 
Egypt  A.  M.  1772:^  he  stayed  but  a  little  while  in  the 
Lower  Egypt,  perhaps  about  three  years,  until  he  had  formed 
Zoan,  a  little  town,  which  was  built  seven  years  after  Hebron 
in  Canaan.^  Here  he  might  plant  a  few  inhabitants,  and  go 
forward  and  build  Noph  or  Memphis  higher  up  the  country; 
and  designing  to  go  himself  a  farther  progress,  he  might  make 
his  son  Toserthrus,  or  Naphtuhim^  the  first  governor  or  king 
of  this  city  about  A.  M.  1777:  accordingly  the  reigns  in  the 
Memphite  dynasties  begin  not  from  Menes,  but  from  Toser- 
thrus.^ The  sum  of  the  reigns  from  the  first  year  of  Toser- 
thrus to  the  twelfth  of  Nitocris  are  six  hundred  and  forty- 
three  years  which,  if  we  count  down  from  A.  M.  1777,  will 
bring  us  to  A.  M.  2420,  the  year  in  which,  I  suppose  the  Pas- 
tors entered  Egypt,  and  reduced  this  kingdom.  Thus  the 
Memphite  succession  very  fully  accords  with  true  chrono- 
logy; and  probably,  if  the  other  successions  were  carefully 
examined,  a  little  pains  would  enable  us  to  bring  them  to  an 
agreement  with  it.     For, 

The  catalogue  of  Mestraean  kings  exceeds,  indeed,  in  length, 
about  one  hundred  and  eighty-nine  years;  but  I  apprehend, 
that  some  interpolations  made  by  Syncellus  are  the  cause  of 
it.  Three  of  the  reigns,  the  fifth,  sixth,  and  sixteenth,  are 
mere  numbers  without  names  of  kings  annexed  to  them. 
And  Serapis  the  seventh  king,  Sesonchosis  the  eighth,"  Ama- 
nemes  the  ninth,^  and  Amasis  the  tenth,^  are  all  names  of 
kings  inserted  here  by  Syncellus  to  lengthen  the  catalogue, 
so  as  to  make  it  suit  his  scheme  of  chronology.  Syncellus 
took  great  liberties  in  this  manner:^  the  numbers  of  years  af- 
fixed to  all  these  reigns  amount  to  the  hundred  and  eighty- 
nine;  if  we  therefore  strike  out  these  reigns,  we  reduce  the 
catalogue  to  a  true  measure.  I  would  not  be  too  tedious  to 
the  reader,  and  shall  therefore  leave  it  to  him,  if  he  chooses 
to  enter  deeper  into  this  subject,  to  consider,  whether  the 
Theban  and  Thinitc  catalogues  may  not  be  as  well  adjusted, 
if  Ihey  be  examined  and  corrected  in  a  proper  manner. 

From  the  Pastors  invading  and  completing  their  conquests 
in  Egypt,  our  learned  author  considers  the  country  as  parted 
only  into  two  kingdoms.     The  Pastors  possessed  the  land  of 

"  Vide  qiix  sup.  i  Numb,  xiii,  22. 

2  See  vol.  i,  b.  iv,  p.  133;  Gen.  x,  13.  '  African,  in  Syncell.p.  56. 

'^  Sesonchosis  was  the  same  person  as  Sesostris,  vid.  Scholiast,  in  ApoU. 
Argonaut,  ver.  27'2,  p.  411,  and  lived  in  a  much  later  age. 

s  Amanemcs  is  again  repeated  by  Syncellus,  and  is  his  fifty-fifth  king. 

6  Amasis  is  his  eighty-eighth,  lie  disguises  the  repetition  of  the  names  of 
Amanemes  and  Amasis,  by  giving  different  numbers  of  years  to  their  reigns ; 
but  we  have  no  reason  to  tliink  there  were  such  kings  in  this  age. 

'  Reges  comminiscitur,  annosque  et  successiones  mutilat  vel  extendit,  prout 
jpsi  visum  est,  magna  nominum,  maxima  numerorum  interpolatione. — Mar- 
cliam,  Can.  Chron.  p.  7. 


BOOK  XI.  HISTORY  CONNECTED.  157 

Memphis,  and  of  Tanis  or  Lower  Egypt;  the  Thebans,  whom 
the  Pastors  did  not  conquer,  held  their  own  country,  and  had 
added  the  land  of  This  to  it.  Africanus  indeed  suggests  a 
dynasty  of  Elephantine  kings,  supposing  nine  successions  of 
them.^  Elephantis  was  a  remote  city  in  the  most  southern 
parts  of  Egypt, ^  above  two  hundred  miles  higher  up  into  the 
country  than  Thebes  or  Diospolis.^  The  names  of  kings,  sup- 
posed to  be  of  this  kingdom,  have  a  great  similitude  with 
those  of  the  kings  of  This,  and  perhaps  some  little  companies 
of  Thinites,  when  the  Thebans  conquered  their  country, 
might  travel  into  this  distant  region,  and  plant  themselves 
here,  and  build  a  city,  and  have  a  quiet  enjoyment  of  it,  for 
above  two  centuries.^  We  find  no  history,  nor  any  thing  re- 
corded of  these  Elephantines,  and,  probably,  after  having 
lived  for  the  space  above  mentioned  in  a  little  independent 
society,  at  the  end  of  that  term,  the  Thebans  extending  and 
enlarging  their  country,  they  might  at  last  become  a  city  or 
district  of  their  kingdom.  The  following  table  will  give  the 
reader  a  view  of  Sir  John  Marsham's  continuation  of  the  The- 
ban  kings,  and  of  the  succession  of  the  Pastor  reigns  until  the 
Pastors  were  expelled  Egypt. 

^  African.  Djnast.  v.  in  Synccll.p.  57. 

«  Herodot.  lib.  ii,  c.  17,  18,  29.  i  Id.  c.  9. 

2  The  reigns  supposed  by  Africanus  to  belong  to  this  dynasty,  amount  to 
two  hundred  and  eighteen  years. 


158 


SACRED  AND  PROFANE 


BOOK  XI. 


11.  TABLE  OF  EGYPTIAN  KINGS. 


Continuation  of  Eratosthenes' 
Theban  Kings. 


Pastor  Kings  from  Manetho, 

&c.  See  Joseph,  and  African. 

15th  Dynasty. 


Yrs.  M 

23.  Myrtaeus 22  0 

24.  Thuosi  Mares 12  0 

25.  Thimillus 8  0 

26.  Semphrucrates 18  0 

27.  Chouther  Taurus....  7  0 

28.  Meuros  Philoscorus  1 2  0 

29.  Choma  Ephta 11  0 

30.  Anchunius   Ochy 
Tyrannus 60  0 

31.  Pente-Athyris 16  0 

32.  Stamenemes 23  0 

33.  Sistosichermes 55  0 

34.  Mseris 43  0 

35.  Siphoas  or  Mercury  5  0 
36. 3 14  0 

37.  Phruron  or  Nikis....  5  0 

38.  Amuthantaeus 63  0 

Here  ends  the  Catalogue 
of  Eratosthenes. 


From  Manetho,  18th  Dynasty 
ofAfricanus.    See  Josephus. 

39.  Amosis 25     4 

40.  Chcbron 

41.  Amenophis 27     7 

42.  Amesses 21     9 

43.  Mephres 12     9 

44.  Misphragmuthosis..25   10 


Yrs.  M 

l.Salatis 19  0 

2.  Baeon 44  0 

3.  Apachnas 36  7 

4.  Apophes 61  0 

5.  Janias 50  1 

6.  Assis 40  2 

21st  Dyn.  African.  ■*  in  Syn- 
cell.  p.  123. 

7.  Smedes 26  0 

8.  Psusenes 46  0 

9.  Ncphelcheres 4  0 

10.  Amenophthis 9  0 

11.  Osocher 6  0 

12.  Pinaches 9  0 

13.  Susennes 14  0 

23d  Dyn.  Afric. 

14.  Petubates 40  0 

15.  Osorcho 8  0 

16.  Psammus 10  0 

17.  Zoet 31  0  I 


3  Sir  John  Marsham  passes  over  this  reign,  there  being  no  name  annexed  to 
it,  and  supposes  that  Nilus  succeeded  Mercury,  and  Eratosthenes'  Catalogue 
contained  but  thirty-seven  kings.     Can.  p.  94,  238. 

■»  It  may  be  here  remarked,  that  both  Manetho  and  Africanus  (see  Ciirono- 
graph.  in  Syncell.  p.  52;  African.  Dyn.  p.  71)  style  this  dynasty  Tanite.  Uut 
to  this  it  may  be  answered,  that  the  Pastors,  possessing  the  land  of  Tanis  or 
Ix)\ver  Egypt,  were  the  Tauite  kings  of  these  times. 


BOOK  XI.  HISTORY  CONNECTED.  159 

Misphragmuthosis,  or  Alisfragmuthosis,  gave  the  Pastors  a 
great  overthrow  in  battle,  and  shut  them  up  in  Abaris,  where 
he  confined  them  by  a  close  siege/     His  son  was 

45.  Tuthmosis  ....  9  years  8  months. 

The  Pastors  capitulated  with  this  king  at  his  coming  to  the 
crown,  and  surrendered  upon  condition  to  be  suflfered  to 
march  out  of  Egypt.^  Next  to  Tuthmosis,  or  Tummosis, 
reigned 

46.  Amenophis  30  years  10  months. 

In  the  reign  of  this  king  the  Pastors  invaded  Egypt  again, 
and  for  thirteen  years  dispossessed  him  of  his  kingdom;  but 
at  the  end  of  that  term  Amenophis  came  with  an  army,  and 
entirely  conquered  them,  and  expelled  them  Egypt  for  ever/ 
and  at  this  their  second  expulsion,  the  five  hundred  and  ele- 
ven years  are  computed  to  end,  during  which  the  Pastors  are 
said  to  have  held  Egypt.^ 

After  this  second  expulsion  of  the  Pastors,  Sir  John  Mar- 
sham  adds  the  following  Theban  kings,  sole  monarchs  of  all 
Egypt. 

Years.  M. 

47  Orus  reigned 36  5 

48  Achenchres 12  1 

49  Rathotis 9  0 

50  Acencheres 12  5 

51  Acencheres 12  3 

52  Armais 4  1 

53  Ramesses 1  4 

54  Ramesses  Maimun  . . .  66  2 

55  Amenophis 19  6 

19th  Dynast.  African. 

56  Sethosis,  Sesostris,  or  Sesac. 

The  reader  has  now  before  him  a  view  of  Sir  John  Marsham's 
scheme  from  the  beginning  of  the  reigns  of  the  Egyptian 
kings  down  to  his  Sesostris  or  Sesac:  and  if  he  will  take  the 
pains  thoroughly  to  examine  it,  if  he  will  take  it  in  pieces  into 
all  its  parts,  review  the  materials  of  which  it  is  formed,  con- 
sider how  they  lie  in  the  authors  from  whom  they  are  taken, 

5  Joseph,  contra  Ap.  lib,  i,  c  14.  ^  jj^  jbij^ 

'  Id.  ibid.  26,  28;  Marsham,  Can.  Chronic,  p.  318. 

s  The  Pastor  reigns  above  mentioned,  from  Salatis  to  Zet,  amount  to  four 
hundred  and  seventy-eight  years  ten  months;  the  reign  of  Tuthmo.Ms  is  nine 
years  eight  months.  If  the  Pastors  invaded  Egypt  again  in  the  tenth  year  of 
Amenophis,  and  were  totally  conquered  thirteen' years  after;  this  coixjuest  of 
them  will  indeed  fall  five  hundred  and  eleven  years  from  the  first  year  of 
Salatis. 


160  SACRED  AND  PROFANE  liOOK  XI. 

and  what  manner  of  collecting  and  disposing  them  is  made 
use  of,  he  will  find,  that,  however  in  some  lesser  points  a  va- 
riation from  our  very  learned  author  may  be  defensible,  yet 
no  tolerable  scheme  can  be  formed  of  tlie  ancient  Egyptian 
history,  which  does  not  in  the  main  agree  with  him.  Sir 
John  JNlarsham  has  led  us  to  a  clear  and  natural  place  for  the 
name  of  every  Egyptian  king,  and  time  of  his  reign,  who  is 
mentioned  by  eitlier  Eratosthenes,  Africanus  from  Manetho, 
Josephus,  or  Syncellus,  which  we  can  reasonably  think  had 
a  real  place  in  the  Egyptian  history;  for  as  to  the  name  of  the 
king  in  Africanus's  9th  dynasty,  called  a  dynasty  of  kings  of 
Heracleopolis,*^  Manetho  made  no  such  dynasty.*  Africanus 
found  out  one  of  the  names  of  the  kings  of  it.-  Heracleotis, 
Heracleopolis,  or  Heroopolis,  was  a  city  of  Lower  Egypt, 
near  one  of  the  mouths  or  outlets  of  the  Nile  into  the  sea.-^ 
Perhaps  it  was  a  town  not  immediately  reduced  by  the  Pas- 
tors, and  its  holding  out,  and  preserving  its  liberty  for  some 
time,  might  occasion  the  writers  of  after-ages  to  think  it  had 
been  an  independent  kingdom,  who  endeavoured  to  form  dy- 
nasties of  its  kings.  In  like  manner  we  may  remark  con- 
cerning Africanus's  22d  dynasty,  which  he  calls  Bubastite. 
Buhastus  was  a  city  of  Lower  Egypt,'*  probably  governed  by 
magistrates,  deputies  to  the  Pastors,  or  it  might,  perhaps,  re- 
volt from  the  Tanite  or  Pastor  kings,  when  the  Thebans  be- 
gan to  weaken  and  distress  them,  and  become  a  free  town,  and 
have  governors  of  its  own  for  some  successions  towards  the 
end  of  the  times  of  the  Pastors  being  in  Egypt;  and  some 
mention  of  this  sort  having  been  made  of  it,  might  occasion 
after-writers  to  number  its  magistrates  among  the  kings  of 
Egypt.  But  Manetho  made  no  such  dynasty;  accordingly 
Sir  John  Marsham  does  not  collect  these  kings.  Were  there 
indeed  any  such  kings,  a  place  might  be  found  for  them,  by- 
setting  them  down  as  contemporaries  with  some  of  the  last 
Pastor  or  Tanite  kings.  Sir  John  Marsham  has  not  taken 
into  this  part  of  his  canon  the  kings  of  the  11th,  12th,  and 
19th  dynasties  of  Africanus:  the  reader  may  see  his  reasons 
for  omitting  them.^  I  think  a  different  account  from  that  of 
our  most  learned  author  may  be  given  of  them  f  but  I  shall 
give  what  I  conceive  to  be  the  true  account  of  these  kings, 
when  I  come  down  to  the  times  succeeding  the  reigns  of  Se- 
sac,  where  I  shall  be  also  able,  with  less  trouble  and  more 
perspicuity,  to  adjust  Eratosthenes's  canon  of  Theban  kings, 
and  Sir  John  Marsham's  supplement  of  reigns  added  to  it,  to 
a  true  length.  As  they  now  stand  in  his  canon,  Nitocris  the 
22d  in  Eratosthenes  must  be  thought  to  have  reigned  A.  M. 
2420.    The  sixteen  reigns  succeeding  hcr's  to  the  end  of  Era- 

9  African.  \n  Syncell.  p.  59  '  Vid.  Chron.  ib.  p.  52. 

-  African,  ubi  stip.  3  Strabo,  Geog.  1.  ii,  p.  85. 

•»  lb.  1.  xvii,  p.  805.  5  Can.  Chron.  p.  391,  392. 
s  Vid.  quae  supra. 


BOOK  XI.  HISTORY  CONNECTED.  161 

tosthenes's  catalogue,  contain  three  hundred  and  seventy-four 
years;  the  seventeen  reigns  added  to  these  by  Sir  John  Mar- 
sham,  from  Amosis  to  Sesothis,  Sesostris,  or  Sesac,  contain 
three  hundred  and  fifty-four  years  ;^  add  these  together,  and 
we  come  down  to  A.  M.  3148;  but  Sesac  came  against  Jeru- 
salem A.  M.  3033;**  so  that  here  again  the  Theban  list  of  kings 
appears  to  be  of  too  great  a  length  by  above  one  hundred  and 
fifteen  years. 

If  the  Pastors  came  into  Egypt  as  above,  about  A.  M.  2420, 
and  their  first  king  Salatis  reigned  nineteen  years,  their  se- 
cond king  Beon  reigned  forty-four,  and  their  third  king  Apo- 
phis  thirty-six  3'ears  and  seven  months,^  the  end  of  Apophis's 
reign  falls  A.  M.  2520;  so  that  he  was  the  Pharaoh  or  king  of 
Lower  Egypt,  who  pursued  the  Israelites,  and  perished  in  the 
Red  Sea.  The  exit  of  the  Israelites  out  of  Egypt,  and  their 
passing  over  the  Red  Sea,  happened  A.  M.  2513;  but  the  ju- 
dicious reader  will  not  expect  to  be  ascertained  of  our  having 
all  the  numeral  characters  in  the  Egyptian  reigns  so  truly  cal- 
culated, or  conveyed  down  to  us,  that  the  difference  between 
A.  M.  2513  and  2520  of  six  or  seven  years,  can  want  to  be 
accounted  for. 


Vid  Eratosth. ;  vid.  Marsham,  p.  96. 

Usher's  Annals. 

Vid.  Joseph,  contra  Ap.  lib.  i;  Marsham,  Can.  Chron,  p.  94. 


Vol.  III. 


SACRED  AND  PROFANE 


HISTORY  OF  THE  WORLD  CONNECTED. 


BOOK  XII. 


IN  the  first  month  of  the  fortieth  year  after  the  exit  out  of 
Egypt,  A.  M.  2553,  the  Israelites  came  into  the  desart  of 
Sin,i  and  pitched  their  tents  at  Kadesh.  Miriam  died  soon 
after  their  coming  hither.^  They  found  little  or  no  water  in 
these  parts,  and  as  soon  as  their  wants  made  them  uneasy, 
they  murmured  against  Moses  and  Aaron.^  Moses  and  Aaron 
consulted  God  for  a  supply,  and  Moses  was  ordered  to  go 
with  Aaron  and  gather  the  assembly.  Moses  was  then  to 
take  Aaron's  rod,  and  he  and  Aaron  were  to  speak  unto  a 
rock  in  the  desart,  and  which  rock  was  to  pour  out  water  in 
the  sight  of  all  the  Israelites/  We  have  no  mention  of  the 
Israelites  from  the  time  of  the  rebellion  of  Korah,  Dathan,  and 
Abiram,  until  they  came  into  this  difficulty.  There  had  passed 
six  or  seven  and  thirty  years  in  this  interval;  during  which 
time  Moses  had  led  them  up  and  down  from  place  to  place,* 
as  Ood  had  thought  fit  to  direct  their  journeyings  by  the 
cloud  which  moved  before  them.''  And  it  is  probable,  that, 
during  all  this  space  of  time,  the  people  had  been  very  obe- 
dient, for  we  hear  of  no  discontents  or  oppositions  amongst 
them.  This  was  their  first  emotion ;  for  now  they  began  to 
be  refractory  again;  but  Moses  could  not  now  so  well  bear  it, 
and  was  here  transported  beyond  his  usual  temper.  The 
murmurings  of  the  people  provoked  his  spirit,  so  that  he 
spake  unadvisedly  with  his  lips.''     He  and  Aaron  here  com- 


*  Numb.  XX,  1. 

2  Ibid. 

3  Ver.  3,  4,  5. 

*  Ver.  8. 

'  Chap.xxxiii. 

''  Exod.  xl,  ^6,  :, 

Psalm  cvi,  33. 

164  SACRED  AND  PROFANE       BOOK  XII. 

mitted  a  fault,  for  which  God  pronounced  against  them,  that 
they  sliould  not  hring  the  people  into  the  land  which  he  had 
given  them.**  The  commentators  appear  in  some  doubt,  what 
the  fault  was  of  which  Moses  and  Aaron  were  here  guilty ; 
but  I  think  it  a  point  not  hard  to  be  determined.  When 
Moses  undertook  the  charge  of  the  people,  after  they  were 
passed  the  Red  Sea,  it  was  strictly  required  of  him,  that  he 
should  be  punctually  obedient  to  all  the  directions  which 
God  should  give  him.^  He  was  to  be  a  minister  of  the  power 
of  God  unto  his  people,  and  in  all  his  actions  to  h^  faithful 
to  him  that  appointed  hiin,^  to  promote  his  glory;  to  con- 
vince the  people  that  the  Lord  was  really  their  God,  and  that 
there  was  none  else  besides  him,  who  could  protect  and  assist 
them,  or  whom  they  ought  to  w^orship.  This  Moses  had 
hitherto  observed  in  all  his  conduct;  but  in  the  instance  be- 
fore us  there  is  a  failure  in  his  behaviour.  When  ihe  people 
were  in  distress  here  by  want  of  water,  God  vouchsafed  to 
hear  their  complaint,  and  directed  Moses  and  Aaron  to  give 
them  a  demonstration,  that  his  power  was  ready  at  hand  mi- 
raculously to  relieve  them.  They  had  been  once  before  in 
the  same  strait;  when  God  thought  fit  to  cause  a  rock,  upon 
Moses  striking  it  with  his  rod,  to  pour  forth  water.^  But  here 
Moses  and  Aaron  were  commanded  to  take  the  rod;  to  go 
and  stand  before  a  rock  appointed  them,  having  summoned 
the  people  to  see  how  God  would  relieve  them;  then  they 
were  to  speak  only  to  the  rock,  and  the  rock  was  to  give 
forth  water.  Had  the  Israelites  been  here  prone  to  entertain 
any  superstitious  fancy  of  the  virtue  of  that  rod,  which  had 
been  the  instrument  of  so  many  miracles,  what  an  opportunity 
had  Moses  to  convince  them  of  their  folly,  and  evidencing, 
that  neither  himself,  nor  Aaron,  nor  the  rod,  was  of  any  im- 
portance, but  that  God  could  have  perfected  the  same  won- 
ders by  a  word  only,  if  he  had  thought  fit  to  have  done  them 
in  that  manner.  But  instead  of  thus  discharging  himself,  he 
took  the  rod,  and  he  and  Aaron  gathered  the  congregation, 
and  he  said  unto  them;  Hear  now,  ye  rebels,  innst  ive  fetch 
you  water  out  of  this  rock?  And  Moses  lift  up  his  hand, 
and  smote  the  rock  tivice,  and'  the  ivater  came  out  abun- 
dantly? In  this  he  spoke  and  acted  unadvisedly;^  for  he  did 
not  speak  or  act  according  to  the  commission  which  God  had 
given  him;  but  spake  and  acted  of  himself,  too  great  an  argu- 
ment of  an  afl'ectation  of  raising  his  own  credit;  for  he  that 
speaketh  of  himself  seeketh  his  own  glory. ^  Moses  ex- 
pressed himself  to  have  had  this  sense  of  things  upon  another 
occasion.  When  Nadab  and  AI)ihu  offered  strange  fire  before 
the  LoKD,  which  he   commanded  them  not,  Moses  remon- 


Numb.  XX,  12.  »  Exod.  xv.  26.  «  Heb.  iii,  2. 

Exod,  xvii.  3  Numb,  xx,  10, 11.  '  I'salm  cvi,  32. 

Jolm  vii,  18. 


BOOK  XII.  HISTORY  CONNECTED.  165 

strated  their  crime  to  Aaron  in  the  clearest  terms,  and  de- 
clared, that  Gor»  would  be  sanctified  in  thetn  that  came  nigh 
him,  and  glorified  before  all  the  people.^  But  here  he  and 
Aaron  joined  in  a  part  very  difierent  from  these  sentiments. 
Their  duty  was  to  have  glorified  God  in  the  sight  of  the  con- 
gregation, by  punctually  performing  what  he  had  directed. 
But  instead  of  this,  they  did  and  said  what  he  commanded 
them  not,  and  thereby  gave  the  Israelites  an  opportunity  to 
imagine  that  the  supply  might  come  from  them,  from  their 
power  and  ability  to  procure  it.  And  for  this  reason,  because 
they  were  not  strictly  careful  to  promote  the  glory  of  God, 
instead  of  raising  their  own  credit^  among  the  people,  they 
were  sentenced  not  to  lead  the  Israelites  into  the  land  of 
Canaan. 

Kadesh,  near  which  the  Israelites  were  at  this  time  en- 
camped, was  a  city  upon  the  borders  of  the  land  of  Edom;" 
from  the  neighbourhood  of  which  place  Moses  sent  messengers 
unto  the  king  of  Edom  to  ask  leave  to  march  through  his 
country.^  The  Israelites  had  received  a  strict  charge  not  to^ 
make  any  attempt  against  this  people;  and  Moses's  message 
was  in  terms  of  the  greatest  assurance  of  friendship  to  them. 
He  acknowledged  the  relation  between  them  and  Israel,  and 
promised,  in  the  most  explicit  manner,  that  he  would  only 
pass  through  their  country,  without  foraging  any  part  of  it,  or 
injuring  any  person  inhabitant  of  it.^  But  the  Edomites  were 
not  willing  to  run  the  venture.  Hitherto  they  had  been 
governed  by  dukes  ;^  but  about  this  time,  apprehending  dan- 
ger, they  made  a  king,  thinking  it  necessary  to  unite  under 
one  head  for  their  common  preservation.  This  king  of  Edom 
refused  to  admit  the  Israelites  into  his  territories,  and  guarded 
his  frontiers  with  numerous  forces;^  whereupon  the  Israelites 
were  obliged  to  march  another  way,  and  therefore  moved 
from  Kadesh  to  mount  Hor.  Upon  mount  Hor  Aaron  died, 
and  Eleazar  his  son  was  appointed  high-priest  in  his  place. ^ 
Aaron  was  a  hundred  and  twenty  years  old  when  he  died  in 
mount  Hor,^  and  died  there  in  the  fortieth  year  after  the  chil- 
dren of  Israel  were  come  out  of  the  land  of  Egypt,''  and  so 
died  A.  M.  2553. 

The  king  of  Arad,  a  ctty  in  the  southern  parts  of  Canaan, 
upon  the  Israelites  coming  near  his  borders,  attacked  them, 
and  took  some  of  them  prisoners.^    The  Israelites  had  offered 

c  Levit.  X,  3, 

'  The  12lh  verse  of  xxth  chapter  of"  Numbers  should  be  thus  translated  : 
Because  ye  -were  not  faithful  to  me,  to  (sanctify  or)  i^loriftj  me,  in  the  eyes  of  the 
children  of  Israel,  therefore  ye  shall  not  bring  this  congregation  into  the  land 
■iahich  I  have  given  them. 

s  Numb.  XX,  16.  9  Numb,  xx,  I4. 

'  See  Deut.  ii,  4,  5,  6.  2  Numb,  xx   17—19. 

•'  See  vol.  ii,  b.  vii,  p.  135.  •*  Numb,  xx,  18,  20. 

'i  Numb.  XX,  22 — 29.  6  chap,  sxsni,  Z9. 

'•  Chap,  xxxiii,  38.  **  Chap,  xxi,  1. 


166  SACRED  AND  PROFANE  BOOK  XII. 

no  violence  to  his  country,  and  were  so  provoked  at  this  at- 
tempt upon  them,  that  they  vowed  a  vow  unto  the  Lord,  that 
if  they  should  hereafter  be  able,  they  would  utterly  destroy 
this  people;^  and  they  were  enabled,  and  did  perform  this 
vow  in  the  days  of  Joshua,'  or  in  a  little  time  after  his  death.- 
The  third  verse  of  this  twenty-first  chapter  of  Numbers  seems 
to  intimate  that  the  Israelites  at  this  time  conquered  these 
Canaanites,  and  utterly  destroyed  them  and  their  cities.  But 
this  was  not  fact;  for  the  king  of  Arad  is  one  of  those  who 
were  conquered  by  Joshua;^  and  the  vengeance  here  threat- 
ened was  either  executed  upon  this  people  by  his  hand,  or 
completed  by  Judah  and  Simeon,  when  they  slew  the  Ca- 
naanites that  inhabited  Zephath,  and  utterly  destroyed  it/ 
The  kingdom  of  Arad  was  not  conquered  in  the  days  of 
Moses,  and  therefore  we  cannot  suppose,  that  the  remark  here 
inserted,  that  the  Lord  hearkened  unto  the  voice  of  Israel, 
and  delivered  up  the  Canaanites,  and  they  utterly  de- 
stroyed them  and  their  cities,  was  of  his  writing.  I  think 
Moses  left  the  text  thus:  ^nd  Israel  vowed  a  vow  unto  the 
Lord,  and  said.  If  thou  wilt  indeed  deliver  this  people  into 
7ny  hand,  then  I  will  utterly  destroy  their  cities,  and  called 
the  name  of  the  place  Hormah,  i.  e.  Israel  called  the  place 
so,  in  token,  that  if  ever  it  should  be  in  their  power,  they  de- 
signed to  make  it  desolate.*  As  to  what  is  added  in  the  third 
verse,  that  the  Lord  hearkened  unto  the  voice  of  Israel,  and 
delivered  up  the  Canaanites,  and  that  they  utterly  de- 
stroyed them  and  their  cities ;  the  thing  was  not  done,  and 
therefore  the  remark  could  not  be  made  in  the  days  of  Moses, 
The  words  perhaps  might  be  written,  by  way  of  observation, 
in  the  margin  of  some  ancient  MS.  of  the  Pentateuch,  after 
the  Israelites  had  destroyed  the  Canaanites;  copiers  from  such 
a  MS.  might  afterwards  transcribe  it  from  the  margin  into  the 
text,  and  thereby  occasion  it  to  come  down  to  us  as  part  of  it. 
The  king  of  Edom  refusing  to  admit  the  Israelites  to  pass 
through  his  country,  and  the  king  of  Arad  opposing  them 
upon  the  frontiers  of  his  kingdom,  they  were  obliged  to  re- 
tire back  into  the  wilderness,  and  therefore  decamped  from 
mount  Hor.  They  were  ordered  to  march  towards  the  Red 
Sea,  and  to  fetch  a  compass  round  about  the  land  of  Edom.'' 
They  began  this  expedition,  but  the  soul  of  the  people  was 
much  discouraged  because  of  the  way.^  They  remonstrated 
to  Moses  all  the  difficulties  which  would  attend  it;  com- 
plained that  they  should  be  distressed  for  v/ant  of  water,  and 
that,  as  to  the  manna,  they  loathed  it,^  and  therefore  were  not 
willing  to  go  again  through  a  desart,  where  they  could  expect 
no  other  provision.     They  began  licreupon  to  be  too  muti- 

9  Numb,  xxi,  2.  '  See  .losh.  xii,  14.  -  See  Judges  i,  17. 

3  Josh,  xii,  14.  "  Judtjes  i,  17. 

5  Tlie  word  I/ormafi  signifies  a  i^lace  devoted  to  destruction. 

«  Numb,  xxi,  4.  ''  Ibid.  »  Vcf .  5 


BOOK  XII.  HISTORY  CONNECTED.  167 

nous  for  Moses  to  lead  them  any  farther,  had  not  God  been 
pleased  to  correct  them  for  their  obstinacy,  by  sending 
amongst  them  fiery  serpents,  which  destroyed  many  of  them.^ 
This  calamity  soon  humbled  them,  and  upon  their  intreating 
Moses,  he  prayed  for  them,  and  obtained  them  a  cure  of  the 
malady  which  afflicted  them.  God  directed  him  to  make  a 
serpent,  and  set  it  up  in  the  camp;  and  promised,  that  who- 
ever would  look  upon  it,  should,  though  bitten  with  a  fiery 
serpent,  recover  and  live.*  Moses  made  a  serpent  of  brass, 
as  he  was  commanded ;  which  the  people  found  to  be  a  remedy 
against  the  calamity,  that  had  destroyed  great  numbers  of 
them.2 

Sir  John  Marsham  is  very  particular  in  his  remarks  upon 
the  setting  up  this  brazen  ser;  ent.^  He  has  collected  several 
passages  from  profane  writers,  which  hint  at  charms  and  en- 
chantments to  cure  the  bite  of  serpents ;  and  says,  the  He- 
brews made  use  of  enchantments  for  this  very  purpose ;  which 
assertion  he  endeavours  to  support  by  a  citation  from  the 
Psalms,  by  another  from  Ecclesiastes,  and  by  a  third  from 
Jeremiah ;  and  from  the  whole  of  what  he  offers,  he  would 
intimate,  that  the  cure  of  the  Israelites  here,  who  were  bitten, 
was  not  miraculous ;  but  that  the  brazen  serpent  venenum  ex- 

tinguebat et  morsus  arte  levabat,  w^as  a  charm  for  the 

calamity,''  or  an  amulet  for  the  distemper,*  a.%iiritvi^wv  tr^^ 
toaavftji  vs^rjytji.  It  would  be  trifling  to  endeavour  to  refute 
this  opinion ;  for  no  one,  acquainted  with  Sir  John  Marsham's 
way  of  thinking,  can  suppose  that  he  believed  it.  I  dare  say, 
he  thought  a  charm  for  the  bite  of  a  serpent  as  ridiculous  on 
the  one  hand,  as  the  opinion  of  some  learned  commentators  is 
on  the  other;  who,  in  order  to  make  the  miracle  appear  the 
greater,  contend  that  brass  is  of  a  virulent  nature,  and  that  the 
looking  upon  a  serpent  made  of  that  metal,  would,  by  way  of 
sympathy,  add  rancour  to  the  wounds,  instead  of  curing  them.*' 
To  a  reasonable  inquirer,  the  brazen  serpent  cannot  appear  to 
have  been,  of  itself,  of  any  eflect  at  all.  This  unquestionably 
was  Sir  John  Marsham's  opinion;  and  what  he  cites  from 
heathen  writers  was  intended  by  him  to  prove,  not  that  charms 
had  ever  been  a  real  cure  for  the  bite  of  serpents,  but  that  the 
world  had  been  amused  with  such  fancies.  And  he  cites  the 
sacred  writers  in  order  to  hint,  that  they  admitted  and  coun- 
tenanced these  popular  superstitions;  but  his  real  thoughts 
about  Moses  and  the  Israelites  in  the  case  before  us  appear  to 
me  to  have  been,  that  the  bitings  of  the  serpents  with  which 
the  Israelites  were  infested,  were  not  mortal ;  that  Moses  set 
up  the  brazen  serpent  to  amuse  the  people,  that  those  who 
were  bitten  might  make  themselves  easy  by  looking  at  it,  in 


9  Numb,  xxi,  6.  i  Ver.  8.  ~  Ver.  9 

3  Can,  Chron,  p.  142.  4  ibid.  p.  I44  '^  Ibid". 

•*  Vid.  Vol.  Synops.  Crit.  in  loc. 


168  SACRED  AND  PKOFANE        BOOK  XII. 

hopes  of  a  cure,  until  the  poison  had  spent  itself,  and  the  in- 
flammation ceased ;  that  when  they  grew  well,  Moses  might 
teach  them  to  ascribe  their  cure  to  a  secret  efficacy  of  the 
brazen  serpent,  in  order  to  raise  and  support  his  credit  among 
them.  This  must  be  our  learned  writer's  sentiment,  in  its 
full  strength  and  latitude;  to  which  I  answer, 

I.  There  were  indeed  serpents  of  divers  sorts  in  many  parts 
of  the  world;  and  some  not  so  venomous,  but  that  their  bite 
was  curable.  Diodorus  Siculus  informs  us,  that  in  the  island 
Taprobane,  now  called  Ceylon,  there  were  serpents  of  a  large 
kind,  of  no  noxious  quality;'''  and  Herodotus  mentions  a  lesser 
sort  as  free  from  venom  in  the  parts  near  Thebes,  in  Egypt.^ 
The  inhabitants  of  Epidaurus  in  Greece  wxre  well  acquainted 
with  these  sorts  of  serpents,^  and  such  abounded  in  Ethiopia.^ 
Pausanius  was  of  opinion,  that  the  same  sort  of  serpents  would 
not  be  equally  venomous  in  different  countries;  for  that  a  dif- 
ferent pasture  may  add  to,  or  diminish  the  virulence  of  their 
poison.2  And  thus  it  may  be  true  in  fact,  that  there  anciently 
were,  and  now  are  in  the  world,  many  sorts  of  serpents  not 
thought  capable  of  biting  mortally;  but  that  a  little  time  and 
patience,  without  much  help  of  medicine,  might  heal  the 
wounds  received  from  them.  And  we  may  suppose,  that  the 
nature  of  the  more  noxious  sorts  might  be  mitigated  by  re- 
moving them  into  a  climate,  or  managing  them  with  diet  not 
apt  to  supply  them  with  too  potent  a  poison.^  And  physic  and 
surgery  are  now  brought  to  such  perfection,  that  perhaps  there 
is  no  poison  of  serpents  so  deadly,  but  that,  if  application  be 
made  in  due  time,  a  sufficient  remedy  may  be  had  for  it.  But 
though  we  allow  all  this,  let  us  observe, 

II.  That  as  Moses  represents  that  the  serpents,  which  bit 
the  Israelites,  had  caused  a  great  mortality  ;*  so  the  heathen 
writers  concur  in  testifying,  that  the  desarts,  wherein  the 
Israelites  journeyed,  produced  serpents  of  so  venomous  a 
kind,  that  their  biting  was  deadly,  beyond  the  power  of  any- 
art  then  known  to  cure  it.  The  ancients  observed,  in  general, 
that  the  most  barren  and  sandy  desarts  had  the  greatest  num- 
ber, and  most  venomous  of  serpents.  Diodorus  makes  this  re- 
mark more  particularly  concerning  the  sands  of  Africa;^  but  it 
was  equally  true  of  the  wilderness  wherein  the  Israelites  jour- 
neyed. Serpents  and  scorpions  were  here,  according  to  Moses, 
as  natural  as  drought  and  want  of  water.''  And  Strabo's  obser- 
vation agrees  with  Moses  ;^  and  both  Strabo  and  Diodorus 
concur  that  the  serpents,  which  were  so  numerous  here,  were 


7  Dlodor.  Sic.  lib.  ii,  p.  99. 

s  Herodot.  lib.  ii,  c.  74 ;  Id.  lib.  iii,  c.  109. 

9  Pausaiu  in  Corintliiac.  c.  28.  '  Herodot.  1.  iv,  c.  183. 

■■i  Pausan.  in  Bccotic.c.  28.  ^  Diodor.  1.  iii,  p.  119. 

•1  Numb   xxi,  6.  *  Diodor.  lib.  iii,  p.  128. 

«i  Deut.  viii,  15. 

"...  imhv  Ti  TW  HTi7m  «v  atjTAK  7rh>i^H,     Strab,  Gcog.  1.  xvi,  p.  759. 


BOOK  XII.  HISTORY  CONNECTED.  169 

of  the  most  deadly  kind,  and  that  there  was  no  cure  for  their 
biting.^  Some  writers  have  supposed  that  the  serpents,  which 
bit  the  Israelites,  had  been  of  the  flying  kind.  Herodotus  in- 
forms us,  that  Arabia  produced  this  sort;^  and  the  time  of  year, 
in  which  the  Israelites  were  under  this  calamity,  was  in  this 
season,  when  these  serpents  are  upon^  the  wing,  and  visit  the 
neighbouring  and  adjacent  countries;  so  that  these  might  at 
this  time  fly  into  the  camp  of  the  Israelites  in  great  numbers. 
But  Moses  does  not  hint  that  they  had  been  flying  serpents, 
he  calls  them  ha  nechashbn  haserapbn  f-  had  he  meant  flying 
serpents,  he  would  have  said,  nachashiin  seraphn  tnenope- 
pim ;  for  they  are  so  described,  where  they  are  mentioned  in 
the  Sci'iptures.^  Strabo  has  taken  notice  of  a  kind  of  serpents 
produced  in  or  near  the  parts  where  the  Israelites  journeyed, 
which  might  be  called  fiery  from  their  colour,"*  and  both  he 
and  Diodorus  were  of  opinion,  that  the  bites  of  these  were  in- 
curable;^ of  which  sort  probably  were  those  which  assaulted 
the  Israelites.  But  whether  we  can  fix  this  point  is  not  very 
material;  it  is  enough  for  our  purpose,  that  from  what  has 
been  offered  it  may  be  observed,  that  after  all  the  knowledge 
which  the  heathens  had  of  cures  and  enchantments  for  the 
bites  of  serpents,  yet  they  would  not  have  judged  any  of  their 
arts  sufficient  to  have  recovered  the  Israelites,  whose  malady 
was  occasioned  by  a  sort  of  serpents,  against  whose  venom 
they  had  no  remedy.  But, 

III.  Let  us  see  what  charms  the  heathens  pretended  to 
have  to  cure  the  bite  of  serpents.  The  profane  writers  indeed 
celebrate  the  Marsi,  a  people  in  Italy j*^  the  Psylli  in  Africa,^ 
and  the  Ophiogenes  in  Lesser  Asia,*  as  very  eminent  for  their 
abilities  against  the  poison  of  serpents,  and  they  give  us  many 
wonderful  stories  about  each  of  them.  But  we  may  remark 
upon  their  performances,  as  Strabo  does  upon  Alexander's 
curing  the  wounds  of  Ptolemy;^  and  it  will  appear,  that  the 
persons  of  whom  we  have  such  marvellous  accounts,  were 
perhaps  possessed  of  some  physical  recipes  for  the  venom  of 
serpents,  and  that  the  mythologists,  as  was  their  usual  way, 
invented  fables  to  raise  their  fame,  instead  of  recording  their 

8  Strab.  1.  xvi;  Diodor.  1.  iii.  s  Herotlot.  1.  iii,  c.  109. 

•  Ac>oc  cTf  i9t  dy^^  Tin  isLpi  'srrifUiTov;  cpu;  ix.  rm  ApctCm;  Ttina-d^ui,  Id.  lib. 
ii,  C  75 

2  Numb  xxi,  5.  ^  See  Isaiali  xiv,  19  ;  xxx,  6. 

*  0?a?  potvmoi  Tov  ;yisav.     Strab.  Geog.  1.  xvi,  p.  778. 

5  To  S'ny/uci  i^ovTi;  ctvuKig-ov,  Strabo,  ibid.  Diodorus  says,  ^y/uctTn  'nroiavTiti 
Txvrixa,^  etvi^n.     Hist.  lib.  iii,  p.  1  26. 

6  Virg.  iEn.  vii,  v.  750;   Plin.  Nat.  Hist.  lib.  vii,  c.  2. 

7  Plin.  ibid.;  Pausan.  inUccotic;  Strab.  Geog.  lib.  xiii. 

8  Strabo,  lib.  xiii;   Plin.  ubi  sup. 

s  .  .  .  .  Tfitii^evTu.  Si  n.ToKffji.atov  x.nS'wiuuv'  iv  uTrvai  Si  wa^as-avTst  Ttvst  tie 
AXl^-^vSpie.  Sil^a.t  ft^civ  .  .  kou  ;^f)icra3-3-«  ....  iSoVTO.;  Si  t«c  firtpSctpou; 
iupufj.  ysv  TO  nKi^Kf^et,  umiKox;  yins-^cti  t*  ^a.a-tKU.  E/xsc  Si  tiva  fxmoa-xi  t»v 
uSoTcev    TO  Si  (au^ocSk  'srpoo-trTi^yi  xcActxswc  X'^f'''    Strabo,  lib.  xv,  p.  723. 

Vol.  in.  Y 


170  SACRED  AND  PllOFANE  BOOK  XII. 

skill  in  a  true  narration.  It  is  remarkable,  that  the  persons 
above-mentioned  are  acknowledged  by  those  who  speak  most 
fabulously  of  their  art,  as  having  used  external  and  medicinal 
applications.  The  Psylli  began  the  cure  by  anointing  the 
wound  with  their  spittle,^  which  was  thought  no  mean  medi- 
cine both  by  Varro  and  Pliny  ;2  and  it  might  have  more  effect 
than  we  may  be  apt  to  think,  if  the  artists  who  applied  it  had 
prepared  their  mouths  by  chewing  such  herbs  as  they  thought 
proper  to  use  upon  the  occasion.  If  this  application  did  not 
answer,  then  they  endeavoured  to  suck  out  the  poison.^  It 
may  be  said,  these  were  but  poor  attempts  for  the  cure  of  so 
dangerous  a  malady.  I  answer,  the  knowledge  and  use  of 
physic  was  not  carried  to  great  perfection  in  these  ages. 
Pliny  has  given  us  above  a  hundred  different  rpmedies  for 
the  venom  of  serpents  ;"*  most,  perhaps  all  of  them,  would  be 
now  thought  to  be  but  trifling  prescriptions,  and  yet,  proba- 
bly, twenty  of  the  meanest  of  them  would  have  raised  any 
person  to  the  reputation  of  an  extraordinary  magician  in  the 
days  of  the  Marsi,  Psylli,  and  Ophiogenes.  Pausanias  had  no 
very  high  opinion  uf  the  powers  of  the  Psylli;  for  he  seems 
to  doubt  whether  they  could  cure  the  bite  of  a  serpent,  unless 
the  serpent  before  its  biting  had  accidentally  eaten  some  food, 
which  might  abate  its  venom. ^  However,  these  men  had  their 
medicines,  which  sometimes  proved  successful;  and  their 
skill,  though  it  would  not  have  gained  them  the  title  of  good 
surgeons  in  an  age  of  more  experience,  was  enough,  in  the 
times  when  they  lived,  to  convey  them  down  to  the  fabulous 
writers,  as  more  than  mortal.  And  these  writers,  fond  of  the 
marvellous,  were  apt  to  omit  relating  every  thing  in  their 
practice,  which  did  not  appear  surprising,  and  to  give  us  that 
part  only,  which  might  look  like  magic  and  enchantment. 
The  philosophy  of  these  times  led  those,  who  thought  them- 
selves most  rational,  into  many  superstitions;*'  and  the  prac- 
titioners of  medicine  thought  it  necessary  to  use  some  rites  to 
gain  a  favourable  influence  of  the  planetary  powers  upon  their 
endeavours,  and  to  put  the  mind  of  the  patient  into  a  harmo- 
nious temper  for  their  operations  having  success  upon  him. 
Hence  music  was  thought  to  have  its  use  at  the  time  of  their 
giving  medicine,  and  sometimes  proper  words  were  muttered;' 
for  words  duly  compounded  were  thought  to  have  great 
power,"  in  charming  the  elements  to  favour  the  cure.     And 


1  Liican.  Pharsal.  1.  ix.  -  Plin.  Nat.  Hist.  1.  vii,  c.  2. 

"  Lucan.  ubi  sup.  We  are  told  by  some  of  our  Knglish  historians,  that  queen 
Eleanor  sucked  the  poison  out  of  the  wound  which  a  Saracen  had  given  to 
Edward  the  First  with  a  poisoned  knife. 

•»  Plin.  Nat.  Hist,  in  var.  loc.  ^  Pausan.  in  Bucotic,  c.  28. 

<*  See  vol.  ii,  book  ix. 

'  Par  lingua  potentibus  hcrbis. 

Plurima  turn  volvit  spumanticarmina  lingua. 
"  Sec  vol.  il,  book  ix. 


BOOK  XII.  HISTORY  CONNECTED.  171 

what  they  did  of  this  sort,  appearing  more  prodigious  than 
their  applications  of  the  juices  of  herbs  and  other  medica- 
ments, the  fabulous  writers  omit  to  speak  of  the  latter,  but 
mention  at  large. their  other  performances,  and  lay  great  stress 
upon  them.  Thus  the  Indians  were  said  to  have  itinerant  en- 
chanters, who  were  thought  to  cure  the  bites  of  serpents  by 
their  singing;^  but  Strabo  remarks,  that  what  they  did  was  al- 
most the  only  practice  of  physic  in  use  in  India  in  their  days;^ 
so  that  I  imagine  they  used  medicines  as  well  as  music.  Upon 
the  whole,  all  the  accounts  we  have  of  the  heathen  cures  of 
the  malady  we  are  treating  of,  carry,  if  duly  considered,  the 
appearance  of  as  much  medicinal  art  as  these  ages  were  ac- 
quainted with;  and  they  have  no  farther  show  of  magic  and 
incantation,  than  What  the  philosophy  of  these  times,  and  the 
true  religion  built  upon  such  philosophy,  taught  the  learned 
to  think  necessary  to  give  medicine  its  due  and  natural  effect 
upon  the  body.  And  whoever  will  judiciously  consider 
the  whole  of  what  the  profane  writers  offer  upon  this  topic, 
may  abundantly  see,  that  none  of  the  heathen  magicians  would 
have  admitted  that  a  brazen  serpent  set  up,  as  Moses  set  up 
that  in  the  wilderness,  could  possibly  have  had  any  effect 
towards  curing  the  people. 

IV.  But  let  us  consider  whether  the  texts  of  Scripture,  cited 
by  Sir  John  Marsham,  do  indeed  support  the  points  for  which 
he  cites  them.  He  remarks,  that  David  mentions,  the  deaf 
adder,  that  stoppeth  her  ear,  lohich  will  not  hearken  to  the 
voice  of  the  charmers,  charming  never  so  wisely  -^  and  that 
Solomon  hints  at  a  serpent  which  would  bite  without  en- 
chantment ;^  and  that  Jeremiah  speaks  of  cockatrices  and 
serpents  which  will  not  he  charmed.^  From  whence  he  in- 
sinuates, that  the  sacred  writers  were  sensible  that  charms 
were  a  sufficient  cure  for  the  bite  of  some  serpents;  though 
there  were  others,  whose  poison  was  not  to  be  controlled  by 
their  influence.  I  answer,  two  of  these  texts,  if  duly  exam- 
ined, are  very  foreign  to  Sir  John  Marsham's  purpose;  for 
there  is  nothing  of  charming  or  enchantment  suggested  in 
them.  The  words  of  David,  Psal.  Iviii,  truly  translated,  are,* 
as  the  deaf  adder  will  not  attend  to  the  voice  of  the  elo- 


9  'ETTuS'ts!  'nrift^onu.v  isnn-tg-evfAiVisi  ima-^tu,     Strab.  Geog.  lib.  XV. 

1  Ksu  Uvaj  a-^tfov  <Tt  /uovnv  roLurnv  ta.TftK>tv,     Id.  ibid. 

2  Psalm  Ivm,  t,  5.  3  Eccles.  x,  8.  4  jcr.  viii,  IT. 
6  The  Hebrew  text,  Psal.  Iviii,  4,  5,  is  in  these  words: — 

lail  10  9  876  5  4  321 


Sicut    aspis    surda    obturabit    aurem    suam,    qux    non    auscultabit    voci 

10  11  la  13 

eloquentium    connectentl    connexiones    sapienti. 


17^  SACRED  AND  PROFANE        BOOK  XII. 

qiient,^  putting  together  the  sayings'  of  the  ivise.  David 
had  no  thought  of  charms  or  enchantments;  but  in  a  noble 
expression  represents  that  wicked  men  are  deaf  to  the  best  in- 
structions offered  to  them  in  the  most  engaging  manner.  We 
have  an  English  proverb,  which  in  some  measure  expresses 
the  import  of  David's  words,  though  not  with  such  a  dignity 
of  diction.  When  good  advice  is  given,  but  not  attended  to, 
we  compare  it  to  a  song  sung  to  a  horse.  A  horse  or  an 
adder  are  not  to  be  moved  by  the  wisest  intimations;  wicked 
and  dissolute  men  are,  morally  speaking,  like  these  animals; 
the  best  things  that  can  be  said  are  lost  upon  them;  which  is 
what  David  very  elegantly  represents,  without  any  view  or 
hint  of  the  possibility  of  cliarming  any  serpent  whatsoever. 
In  like  manner,  nothing  can  he  concluded  to  Sir  John  JNIar- 
sham's  purpose  from  the  words  of  the  preacher.  We  trans- 
late the  verse,  s^ircly  a  serpent  ivill  bite  ivithoiit  enchant- 
ment, and  a  babt)ler  is  no  better.  But  the  Hebrew  words, 
truly  rendered,  would  be  thus:  a  serpent  ivill  bite  without 
any  learning,  and  a  babbler  (or  one  that  loves  to  prate)  is 
no  better.^  The  word  lachash  is  here  used  as  in  2  Samuel 
xii,  19,  and  the  expression,  be  loa  lachash,  is  without  a 
uyhisper  ;  i.  e.  without  the  least  noise  or  intimation,  in  si/eti- 
iio,  says  the  vulgar  Latin;  the  LXX,  sv  «  4i^-pto;uw,  without 
a  lahisper ;  the  Targum,  in  tacit nritnate,  silently.  The  sa- 
cred writer  hints,  beautifully,  that  a  prater  wounds  you  be- 
fore you  can  be  aware  of  him ;  and  we  entirely  lose  his  senti- 
ment, if  we  take  the  verse  to  hint  what  Sir  John  JNIarsham 
would  infer  from  it.  The  last  text  cited  by  our  learned  au- 
thor is  Jeremiah  viii,  17.  The  Prophet  threatens  the  Israel- 
ites with  serpents,  cockatrices  which  will  not  be  charmed. 
It  is  evident  to  any  one  who  considers  the  context,  that  the 
Prophet  here  uses  an  allegory,  and  does  not  mean  that  the 
Israelites  should  be  infested  with  serpents,  but  that  God 
would  bring  upon  them  the  armies  of  their  enemies,  and  ca- 
lamities, against  which  they  should  find  no  remedy.     How- 


6  The  word  trnS  may  sometimes  be  used  to  mutter  as  enchanters  did.  It  is 
a  word  not  often  used  in  Scripture,  but  it  has  not  always  this  magic  meaning'. 
In  2  Samuel  xii,  19,  it  signifies,  to  •wliisper,  without  any  reference  to  sorcery  or 
enchantment.  In  Isaiah  iii,  3,  vrb  fvaj  is  translated,  tlte  eloquent  orator  Eloqmi 
peritiim,  in  the  interlinear  translaiion  of  the  Hebrew.  Prudent  in  giving  coun- 
sel, says  Jonathan  in  his  Targum,  and  so  it  is  rendered  in  tlie  Syriac  version. 
And  thus  1  take  the  word  m  the  passage  before  us,  to  signify,  those  who  ofi'er 
what  they  have  to  say,  m  the  best,  softest,  and  most  engaging  manner. 

''  O'Tan  Vonnexiones,  m  Quintilian's  sense  of  tlie  word :  the  conclusions  of 
the  wise. 

8  The  Hebrew  words,  Eccles.  x,  11,  are, 

9  8  7654  321 

;i8''7n    SpaS    jnn<    i^e*!    srnS    NiSa    ii'n:n    t^^     a* 

IS  384  5  B  7  8 

i.  e.   Si    mordeat    serpens    sine    susurro :     et    non    prrcstantia    adamantis 
lio^am,  or  non  raelior  est,  qui  adamat  loqui. 


BOOK  XII.  HISTORY  CONNECTED.  173 

ever,  since  the  allegory  may  be  said  to  be  founded  upon  the 
sentiment  of  the  speaker,  and  the  Prophet  from  his  using  the 
expression  of  serpents  that  will  not  be  charmed,  to  signify 
irremediable  calamities,  may  be  argued  to  have  thought  some 
serpents  capable  of  being  charmed,  as  some  calamities  may 
have  a  cure;  I  would  enter  a  little  more  exactly  into  his  senti- 
ment and  expression.  In  order  hereto  let  us  observe,  1.  That 
the  Hebrews  applied  to  no  physicians  in  the  most  early  times, 
but  when  under  any  malady^  they  sought  unto  God  for  a  cure. 
2.  There  was  an  art  of  physic  known  both  to  Jews  and  hea- 
thens before  the  days  of  Jeremiah.^  3.  The  heathens  had  in- 
troduced into  their  practice  of  it,  such  rites  as  their  learning 
and  religion  dictated;  which  rites  were  the  charms,  magic,  and 
incantation  they  made  use  of  ^  They  were  charms  of  no  real 
influence,  nor  truly  productive  of  any  supernatural  effect;  but 
tliey  were  thought  significant  by  the  learned  of  these  ages, 
who  built  upon  the  rudiments  of  a  vain  and  mistaken  philo- 
sophy. 4.  The  Jews  were  not  so  careful  in  adhering  strictly 
to  the  true  God,  and  to  his  religion,  but  that  in  many  things 
they  frequently  admitted  the  practice  of  the  heathen  supersti- 
tions, and  learned  their  ways;  and  as  Asa,  when  sick,  almost 
three  hundred  years  before  the  days  of  Jeremiah,  sinned  in 
this  manner  by  applying  to  the  physicians;^  so  very  probably 
in  the  Prophet's  days  much  of  the  heathen  physic  might,  in 
the  corrupted  state  they  were  then  in,  be  admitted  and  ad- 
mired among  them.  But  this  is  not  all ;  in  the  days  of  Jere- 
miah the  Jews  were  greatly  corrupted,  in  both  their  religion 
and  politics.  They  had  departed  far  from  God  ;'*  walked  after 
vanity,  were  become  vain;*  and  set  up  idols  as  numerous  as 
their  cities.^  They  had  changed  their  glory  for  that  which 
could  not  profit  them  f  turned  their  back  upon  God;^ 
burned  incense  unto  Baalf  kneaded  their  dough  to  tnukc 
cakes  unto  the  queen  of  heaven  ;  and  to  pour  out  drink  of- 
ferings unto  other  gods :^  and  now  distress  was  coming 
upon  them,  and  a  dread  and  fear  of  being  ruined,  sometimes 
from  the  armies  of  the  kings  of  Assyria,  at  other  times  from 
the  invasions  of  the  kings  of  Egypt;  they  thought  to  be  pre- 
served under  the  protection  of  their  false  gods,  by  a  vain  po- 
licy, in  confederating  vvith  one  or  other  of  these  powers,  as 
circumstances  might  require,  in  order  to  be  supported  by  one 
or  the  other  of  them.  And  to  this  end,  before  Jeremiah  ap- 
plied to  them,  they  had  made  a  league  with  the  king  of  As- 
syria, and  had  suffered  by  it,  and  been  ashamed  of  it.^  At 
the  time  of  his  address  to  them,  they  were  in  alliance  with 

9  See  vol.  ii,  b.  ix.  i  See  2  Chron.  xvi,  12. 

2  This  their  method  for  the  cure  of  the  bites  of  serpents  abundantly  sug- 
gests to  us.  3  2  Chron.  xiv,  12.  ■*  Jer.  li,  5. 
5  Ibid.                                          6  Ver.  28  '  Ver.  11. 
8  Ver.  27.                                 9  Chap,  vii,  9.  »  Ver.  18. 
2  Jer.  ii,  36 ;  see  Prideaux's  Connection,  vol.  i,  b,  i. 


174  SACRED  AND  PROFANE       BOOK  XII. 

Egypt  ;^  but  of  this  the  Prophet  tells  them  they  would  in  a 
)itlle  time  be  ashamed  also;"*  for  that  God  had  rejected  their 
confidences,  and  that  they  should  not  prosper  in  them.^  The 
design  of  Jeremiah  was  to  set  before  the  Jews,  that  in  the 
Lord  their  God  was  the  only  true  salvation  of  Israel;^  that 
from  all  other  helps  they  hoped  for  it  but  in  vain;  that  de- 
struction upon  destruction  would  come  upon  them  •?  a  nation 
from  far  be  brought  against  them  f  and  that,  if  they  did  not 
amend  their  ways  and  their  doings,^  turn  from  their  wicked- 
ness and  idolatry,  they  should  find,  that  they  put  their  trust 
in  lying  words,  which  could  not  profit,'  and  that  the  evils 
which  were  coming  upon  them,  would  be  as  serpents,  cocka- 
trices, which  could  not  be  charmed ;  i.  e.  would  be  calamities 
really  fatal,  not  to  be  remedied  by  the  trifling  and  insignifi- 
cant amusements,  on  which  they  so  much  depended.  This  is 
the  argument  and  reasoning  of  the  Prophet,  which,  if  duly  at- 
tended to,  is  so  far  from  ascribing  any  true  efficacy  to  charms 
and  enchantments,  that  it  strongly  intimates  they  are  a  doc- 
trine of  vanities?  Jeremiah  compares  charms  and  enchant- 
ments, and  the  false  confidences  of  the  Israelites,  with  each 
other;  and  thereby  declares  his  opinion  of  both  to  be,  that 
they  were  insignificant  and  vain.  In  cases  of  no  certain  dan- 
ger, those  who  were  to  be  deceived  with  vain  and  imaginary 
expectations,  might  amuse  themselves,  and  think  they  re- 
ceived benefit  from  them;  but  where  the  evil  was  real,  and 
truly  wanted  a  redress,  there  they  would  be  found  not  able  to 
profit,  there  no  help  was  found  to  be  had  from  them. 

I  have  now  considered  to  the  bottom  what  Sir  John  Mar- 
sham  intimates  concerning  the  brazen  serpent;  and  hope  it 
must  be  evident,  that  there  are  no  foundations  for  his  sugges- 
tions; but  that  every  sober  querist  must  see  reason  to  consider 
both  the  calamity  that  was  inflicted  upon  the  Israelites,  and 
the  miraculous  cure  of  it,  in  the  light  in  which  the  author  of 
the  Book  of  Wisdom  long  ago  set  it.  They,  i.  e.  the  Israelites, 
were  troubled,  says  he, /or  a  small  season,  that  they  might 
be  admonished,  having  a  sign  of  salvation,  to  put  them  in 
remembrance  of  the  commandment  of  thy  law.  For  he  that 
turned  himself  towards  it,  ivas  not  saved  by  the  thing  that 
he  saw,  but  by  thee,  who  art  the  Saviour  of  all. ^  The  Israel- 
ites were  unmindful  of  the  obedience  which  they  owed  to 
God:  unwilling  to  march  where  God  directed  them.  Here- 
upon they  were  punished,  to  bring  them  to  a  better  mind, 
and  their  punishment  was  in  a  little  time  removed  in  a  miracu- 
lous manner.  They  were  commanded  to  come  and  look  up 
to  a  brazen  serpent,  a  thing  evidently  of  itself  of  no  impor- 

3  Jer.  ii,  36;  see  Piideaux's  Connection,  vol.  i,  b.  i. 

*  Jer  ii,  36.  5  Ver.  37.  «  Chap,  iii,  23. 

'  Ciiap.  IV,  20.  *  Chap,  v,  15 

<)  Cliap.  vii,  3—15.  '  Ver.  8.  -  Chap,  x,  8. 

''  Wisdom,  xvi,  6,  7. 


BOOK  XII.  HISTORY  CONNECTED.  175 

tance;  but  by  God's  power  and  good  pleasure  made  so  ef- 
fectual to  their  recovery,  as  abundantly  to  remind  them,  that 
whatever  God  should  think  fit  to  command,  was  importantly 
necessary  to  be  performed  by  them. 

Moses  omits,  in  the  xxist  chapter  of  Numbers,  two  encamp- 
ments of  the  Israelites;  one  at  Zalmonah,  the  other  at  Punon; 
which  are  both  mentioned  in  chap,  xxxiii.  The  brazen  ser- 
pent was  set  up  at  Punon ;  for  after  they  were  cured,  they 
moved  forwards  to  Oboth,^  and  thence  to  Ijeabarim  on  the 
border  of  the  land  of  Moab.^  They  were  warned  not  to  attack 
the  Moabites,  and  therefore  did  not  enter  their  country,  but 
marched  forward  on  their  borders  into  the  valley  of  Zared, 
and  pitched  there  at  a  place  which  they  called  Dibon-Gad.^ 
From  hence  they  marched  to  the  river  Arnon,  which  divides 
the  land  of  Moab  from  the  country  of  the  Amorites.^  They 
passed  over  this  river,  and  pitched  in  the  wilderness  of  the 
Amorites  at  Almond iblathaim.^  From  hence  they  removed 
to  the  mountains  of  Abarim  before  Nebo.^  They  made  several 
encampments  here,  one  at  Beer,  where  they  dug  a  well,^  another 
.at  Mattanah,^  a  third  at  Nahaliel,^  a  fourth  at  Ramoth,"*  and 
the  last  at  Pisgah.^  These  were  the  several  encampments  from 
Kadcsh  to  Pisgah ;  and  by  fixing  them  thus,  we  may  perfectly 
reconcile  the  seeming  differences  between  tlie  xxist  chapter 
of  Numbers,  ver.  11,12,  13,  18,  19,  20,  and  the  xxxiiid  chap- 
ter, ver.  44,  45,  46,  47. 

From  the  camp  to  Pisgah,  Moses  sent  to  Sihon,  king  of  the 
Amorites,  to  ask  leave  to  pass  through  his  country  f  but  Si- 
hon was  so  far  from  being  willing  to  permit  them  to  march 
farther  into  his  kingdom,  that  he  determined  to  oblige  them 
to  quit  it  entirely.  He  therefore  summoned  together  his 
forces,  met  the  Israelites  at  Jahaz,^  and  gave  them  battle,  but 
was  routed  by  them.*  The  Israelites  pursued  their  victory, 
and  forced  Sihon  out  of  all  that  country,  from  the  river  Ar- 
non unto  Jabbok.^  This  tract  of  land  had  formerly  been  the 
Moabites',  until  Sihon  conquered  it;^  now  the  Israelites  came 
into  possession  of  it.  The  several  victories  which  the  Israelites 
obtained  in  the  land  of  the  Amorites,^  were  gotten  by  detach- 
ments from  their  main  body,  for  the  camp  continued  at  Pis- 
gah, until  they  removed  to  the  plains  of  Moab.^  But  they 
sent  out  select  companies,  such  as  they  afterwards  chose  to 
fight  the  Midianitcs  ;^  for  the  whole  camp  was  too  great  to 
move  after  every  expedition.  By  these  they  reduced  this 
whole  country,  and  after  this  they  conquered  and  took  pos- 


*  Numb,  xxi,  10. 

5  Ver.  1 1  ;  xxxiii,  44. 

«  Deut.  ii,9;  Numb,  xxi,  12; 

xxxiii,  45. 

7  Chap,  xxi,  13. 

s  Ibid;  and  xxxiii,  46. 

9  Ver.  47. 

'  Ch.'ip.  xxi,  16. 

^  Ver.  18. 

3  Ver.  19. 

4  Ibid. 

5  Ver.  20. 

6  Ver.  21. 

'  Ver.  23. 

8  Ver.  24. 

9  Ibid. 

'  Ver.  26—29. 

2  Ver.  25. 

3  Chap,  xxii. 

1  ;  xxxiii,  43. 

*  Chap,  xxxi,  r>,  4.  &.C. 

176  SACRED  AND  PROFANE       BOOK  XII. 

session  of  the  kingdom  of  Bashan;*  and  then  Moses  removed 
the  whole  camp,  and  pitched  in  the  plains  of  Moab,  near  the 
banks  of  Jordan,  over-against  Jericho.*^  So  large  a  body  as 
the  camp  of  the  Israelites  took  up  a  considerable  tract  of  the 
country,  and  reached  from  Beth-jesimuth  unto  Abel-shiltimJ 
Balak  the  son  of  Zippor  was  king  of  Moab  at  this  time :  and 
was  much  alarmed  at  the  march  of  the  Israelites.  And  his  peo- 
ple had  great  fears  upon  their  account;*  for  which  reason  he 
sent  an  embassy  to  the  elders  of  Midian,  and  represented  the 
common  danger  they  were  all  in,  and  agreed  with  them  to 
send  to  Balaam  the  son  of  Beor,  a  prophet,  whose  fa  me  pro- 
bably had  been  much  talked  of,  to  know  if  he  could  so  curse 
this  people,  as  that  they  might  attack  and  destroy  them.^  Ba- 
laam's country  was  far  distant  from  the  land  of  Moab.  He 
came  from  the  eastern  parts  of  Syria.'  He  lived  at  Pethor, 
near  Euphrates;^  for  he  was  of  Mesopotamia.^  The  ambas- 
sadors of  the  king  of  Moab,  together  with  the  elders  of  Mi- 
dian, came  hither  to  him,  and  delivered  their  message.  Ba- 
laam required  them  to  stay  all  night,  until  he  should  inquire 
of  God  what  answer  to  give  them.  In  the  morning  he  ac- 
quainted them,  that  God  would  not  give  him  leave  to  go  with 
them.-*  Upon  the  ambassadors  reporting  this  to  Balak,  he 
thought  he  had  not  made  the  Prophet  sufficient  offers  to  in- 
duce him  to  take  so  long  a  journey ;  and  therefore  sent  again 
by  persons  of  higher  rank,  and  offered  him  any  advancement 
in  his  kingdom.*  But  the  Prophet  answered,  that  no  tempta- 
tion should  prevail  upon  him  to  do  any  thing,  but  what  God 
should  direct;  therefore  he  required  them  to  stay  all  night, 
until  he  should  again  consult  God,  and  know  what  answer  to 
give  them.*'  Upon  this  his  second  inquiry,  God  gave  him 
leave  to  go,  if  the  men  came  in  the  morning  to  call  him;^  but 
strictly  charged  him,  if  he  went,  to  say  nothing  but  what  he 
should  direct.^  The  offers  of  Balak  had  made  impression 
upon  Balaam,  who  grew  fond  of  the  journey  and  of  the  pros- 
pects of  it ;  and  in  the  morning  he  stayed  not  to  be  called,  but 
got  up  early,  and  saddled  his  ass,^  and  went  with  the  prince? 
of  Moab.  This  was  his  fault;  the  wages  which  were  offei'ed, 
tempted  him,^  and  he  was  greedy  after  the  reward.^  He  did 
not  preserve  a  due  indifference  to  the  journey,  but  pressed 
into  it  with  a  covetous  or  ambitious  heart:  and  God's  anger 
was  kindled  at  his  going  in  this  manner.^     The  commenta- 


5  Numb,  xxi,  33—35.  «  Chap,  xxll,  1 ;  xxxlii,  49.  '  Ibid, 
s  Chap,  xxn,  2,  3,  4.                       "  Ver,  4,  5,  6. 

•  He  came  from  Aram  out  of  the  monntairis  of  the  east,  Numbers  xxlii,  7; 
Aram  is  Syria  ;  see  vol.  i,  book  iii,  p.  108. 

~  Numb,  xxii,  5. — The  nver  Euphrates  might  be  called  the  river  of  his 
land.  Mesopotamia  from  this  and  the  river  Tigris  is  denominated  Aram  Na- 
haraim.     See  vol.  i,  book  iii,  p.  109. 

3  Deut.  xxlii,  4,  ''  Numb,  xxii,  7—13.  ^  Ver.  14,  16,  17. 

6  Ver.  18,  19.  '   Ver.  'JO.  ^  Ibid. 

9  Ver.  21.  '  2  I'etcr  ii,  15.  -  Jude,  ver.  11. 

^  Numb,  xxii,  22. 


BOOK  XII.  HISTORY  CONNECTED.  177 

tors  do  not,  I  think,  clearly  determine  what  Balaam's  fault 
was;  and  our  modern  deists,  with  great  assurance,  ridicule 
the  fact  here  related.  They  remark,  that  his  going  upon  Ba- 
lak's  second  message,  was  by  God's  express  command;  and 
yet  that  tlie  text  says,  God's  anger  was  kindled  because  he 
went.*  I  answer,  our  translators  do  indeed  thus  render  the 
text;  but  the  Hebrew  words  are  clear  of  this  absurdity.  The 
Hebrew  text  is,  and  the  anger  of  God  was  kindled,  not 
"l^n  "D  ci  halak,  because  he  went,  but  xin  i^Ti  o,  ci  halak  hua,^ 
because  he  ivcnt  of  himself ,^  i.  e.  without  staying  for  Balak's 
messengers  to  come  in  the  morning  to  call  him.  He  had  no 
leave  to  go  at  all,  unless  the  messengers  came  in  the  morning 
again  to  him;^  and,  perhaps,  if  he  had  not  thus  gone  to  them, 
after  having  promised  them  an  answer,  they  might  have 
thought  their  master's  great  offers  neglected,  and  have  gone 
away  without  him.  But  his  head  and  heart  were  too  full  of 
expectations  from  the  journey,  to  run  the  hazard  of  not  being 
farther  invited  into  it;  and  so  he  rose  early  in  the  morning, 
and  went  to  them,  directly  contrary  to  God's  express  order,* 
and  was  opposed  by  the  angel  for  this  breach  of  his  duty.^ 
What  follows  in  Moses's  narration  has  appeared  to  many 
writers  a  great  difficulty.  Philo  seems  to  have  thought,  that 
Balaam's  ass  did  not  really  speak  to  him;  for  he  gives  a  large 
account  of  all  Balaam's  proceedings,  but  is  absolutely  silent  as 
to  this  particular.^  The  Jewish  Rabbins  represent  Balaam  as 
having  heard  and  answered  what  the  ass  is  related  to  have 
said  to  him,  in  a  trance  or  vision  ;2  and  our  modern  naturalists 
are  very  free  in  their  remarks  upon  the  fact  as  related  by 
Moses.  1.  But  an  inspired  writer,  in  the  New  Testament, 
assures  us,  that  it  was  real  fact  as  Moses  relates  it.  Moses 
says,  that  the  Lord  opened  the  mouth  of  the  ass,  and  she 
said  unto  Balaam  ;^  and  St.  Peter  tells  us,  the  diim,b  ass^ 
speaking  with  man's  voice,  forbad  the  madness  of  the 
Prophet.'^  2.  It  is  a  fact  in  nowise  impossible  ;  some  writers 
represent,  that  the  very  nature  of  the  ass  must  have  been 
changed,  to  make  her  capable  of  what  is  related.  They  argue, 
that  not  only  a  power  of  speaking  must  have  been  given  to 
her,  but  that  her  mind  also  must  have  been  enlarged,  to  ena- 
ble her,  first  to  know  an  angel,  when  she  saw  one,  and  in  the 
next  place  to  recollect  backward,  how  she  had  carried  her 
master  until  that  time,  and  to  remonstrate  this,  so  as  to  sug- 
gest to  him,  that  if  something  extraordinary  had  not  happened. 


■i  Numb,  xxii,  22. 

5  Our  Hebrew  Bibles  have  the  place,  Nin  7Sin  'D,  but  the  Samaritan  text  is, 
I  tliink,  more  accurate. 
G  See  boolc  xi,  p.  93.  '  Numb,  xxii,  20. 

8  Ibid;  and  ver  21.  9  Ver.  22,  32. 

>  Pliilo.  Jud.  de  vit.  Mosis.  lib.  i,  p.  643. 

2  Maimonid.  More  Nevoch.  part  ii,  c.  42. 

3  Numb,  xxii,  28.  *  2  Pet.  ii,  16. 

Vol.  III.  Z 


178  SACRED  AND  PROFANE  JJOOK  XII. 

she  had  undoubtedly  still  carried  him  in  the  same  manner.-"* 
The  brute  creatures  are  not  conceived  to  have  these  powers 
of  reasoning;  they  do  not  pursue,  connect,  and  compare  their 
ideas  in  this  regular  manner.  Had  Balaam's  ass  not  been  en- 
dued with  a  greater  compass  of  reason  than  creatures  of  this 
species  ordinarily  have,  she  would  not  have  spoken  what 
Moses  relates,  even  though  the  power  of  speech  had  been 
miraculously  given  to  her.  She  might  have  represented,  that 
she  was  affrighted,  but  she  would  not  have  connected  and  com- 
pared her  former  services  with  the  present  miscarriage.  But 
to  this  I  answer,  Moses  does  not  say,  that  the  ass  knew  an 
angel;  an  angel  appeared  to  her  in  the  way  with  a  drawn 
sword  to  oppose  their  passage.  She  endeavoured  to  avoid 
him  when  she  could,  and  when  she  could  not,  she  fell  down. 
She  might  have  done  the  same,  if  a  man  had  opposed  them  in 
the  same  manner.  Or  the  appearance  of  the  angel  might  very 
much  affright  her,  without  her  knowing  it  to  be  an  angel.  As 
to  her  reasoning  above  the  capacity  of  a  brute  animal,  and 
speaking  the  result  of  such  reasoning,  God  undoubtedly  could, 
if  he  had  pleased,  have  instantly  capacitated  any  of  the  infe- 
rior creatures  for  this,  or  for  much  greater  things.  But  even 
this  does  not  appear  to  have  been  done.  A  human  voice  came 
out  of  the  mouth  of  the  ass;^  but  I  do  not  apprehend,  that 
what  the  voice  uttered  proceeded  from  her  sentiments;  it  was 
rather  what  God  Avould  have  to  be  uttered  to  rebuke  the  Pro- 
phet. The  tongue  of  the  ass  was  miraculously  moved,  not  by 
any  natural  power  of  her's  so  to  move  it;  and  it  spake  what 
it  was  moved  to  utter,  without  any  connexion  of  the  words 
spoken  with  the  sentiments  of  the  ass,  and  without  her  un- 
derstanding the  words  which  she  uttered  upon  this  occasion. 
This  seems  to  me  to  have  been  the  fact,  and  herein  there  is  a 
real  miracle;  but  no  appearance  of  the  absurdity,  which  is 
pretended.  I  would  consider,  3.  That  the  miracle  of  the  ass's 
speaking  was  not  superfluous  and  unnecessary ;  but  very  perti- 
nent and  suitable  to  the  design  which  God  intended  to  pro- 
mote by  it.  It  is  thought  by  some,  that  this  miracle  might 
well  have  been  spared;  that  the  angel's  appearing  was  abun- 
dantly sufficient  to  have  recalled  Balaam  to  his  duty;  that 
he  was  not  much  moved  by  the  ass's  speaking,^  it  was  the 
seeing  the  angel  that  affected  him."  And  they  say,  why 
should  God  cause  so  unusual  a  miracle,  as  a  dumb  creature's 
speaking  to  so  little  purpose,  and  so  little  wanted?  I  answer; 
Balaam  was,  perhaps,  much  surprised  at  the  ass's  speaking, 
though  Moses  has  not  reported  it  to  us.  The  ancient  Jewish 
writers  imagine  he  was  so ;  and  accordingly  Josephus  repre- 
sents that  he  had  been  greatly  astonished  at  it.^  But  Moses's 
narration  is  short,  and  concise;  and  he  may  have  omitted  this 


5  Numb,  xxii,  23,  29,  30.  «  2  Pet.  li,  16.  '  Numb,  xxii,  29. 

8  Ver.  34.  »  Joseph.  Antiq.  lib.  iv,  c.  3. 


BOOK  XII.  HISTORY  CONNECTED.  179 

and  other  particulars  of  Balaam's  story  which  were  not  of 
great  moment  to  be  told.    For,  what  if  the  heat  and  obstinate 
bent  of  Balaam's  temjjcr  caused  him  not  to  pay  due  regard  to 
this  miracle;  shall  the  miracle  be  therefore  argued  to  be  in  itself 
insignificant,  because  he  did  not  suffer  it  to  have  its  due  eflect 
upon  him?  Many  miracles  were  wrought  in  Egypt,  to  which 
Pharaoh  paid  little  regard;  but  we  cannot  censure   them   as 
extravagant  or  superfluous,  because  Pharaoh  did  not  apply  his 
heart  duly  to  consider  them.*     Any  one  of  them  might  have 
been  of  great  service  to  him,  if  he  would  have  made  them  so; 
which  justifies  the  wisdom  and  goodness  of  God,  in  causing 
them  to  be  wrought  before  him.     This  may  be  remarked  in 
the  case  of  Balaam;  God  did  not  design  to  permit  a  war  be- 
tween the  Israelites  and  Moabites  at  this  time.   He  had  warned 
the  Israelites  not  to  distress  or  war  against  them;^  and  he 
would  not  suffer  Balaam  to  curse  the  Israelites,  because  the 
Moabites  would  have  paid  so  great  regard  to  what  he  had 
promised,  that  they  would  thereupon  have  attacked  them,   in 
hopes  of  being  able  to  overcome  and  drive  them  ouP  of  the 
neighbouring  country.      God,   indeed,   if  he  pleased,  could 
have  over-ruled  Balaam's   heart,  and  disposed   him  for  his 
duty,  without  the  appearance  of  any  miracle,  or  have  caused 
any  one  miracle  to  have  been  as  effectual  as  ten  thousand ; 
but  he  dealt  with  Balaam  as  with  a  free  agent.      He  did 
not  take  away   his  liberty,  but  set  before  him  very  consider- 
able motives  to  induce  him  to  make  a  right  and  virtuous  use 
of  it.     If  we  consider  the  whole  process  of  this  affair,  we  shall 
not  see  reason  to  judge  any  part  of  what  God  was  here  pleased 
to  do,  as  being  superfluous  or  extravagant;  but  must  allow, 
that  in  every  particular,  God  was  exceedingly  merciful  unto 
Balaam,  though  the  corruption   of  his  heart  was  very  great. 
When  he  was  first  sent  for  by  Balak,   and  inquired  whether 
he  should  go,  God  did  not  lead  him  into  a  temptation  too  hard 
for  him.'*    Upon  the  second  inquiry,  a  way  was  still  made  for 
him  to  escape  ;^  for  had  he  not  gone  until  he  had  been  called 
in  the  morning,^  probably  Balak's  high  and  more  honourable 
messengers^  would  not  have  been  so   attendant  upon  what 
they  might  have  tliought  his  humour ;  but  would  have  gone 
away  without  him.     But  he  would  go,  and  went  with  a  cor- 
rupt heart,  not  likely  to  be  duly  rriindful  of  the  charge  which 
God  had  given  him  f  but  liable  to  be  tempted  to  gratify  the 
king,  in  order  to  obtain  the  advancement  which  was  offered 
him.^     Hereupon  God  was  pleased  to  correct  his  intention  by 

1  Exodus  vii,  23.  2  Deut.  ii,  9.  »  Numb,  xxli,  11. 

*  Ver.  12.  5  Ver.  20.  6  Ver.  21. 

'  Ver.  15. 

8  Balaam's  heart  was  known  unto  God,  and  he  Intended  not  to  be  strictly 
careful  to  speak  only  what  God  should  direct,  and  therefore  this  point  was 
given  again  in  charge  to  him,  ver.-35. 

•9  Numb,  sxii,  if. 


180  SACRED  AND  PROFAXE       BOOK  XII. 

two  miracles ;  by  one  of  which  he  evidenced  to  him,  that  he 
could  so  control  him,  that  it  should  not  really  be  in  his  power 
to  falsify,  if  he  would,  what  God  had  designed  to  direct  him 
to  say.  By  the  other,  he  threatened  him  not  to  attempt  it 
upon  pain  of  death.  The  ass  he  rode  on  was  made  to  speak 
to  him:  a  convincing  demonstration,  that  it  would  be  a  vain 
thing  in  him  to  endeavour  to  speak  otherwise  than  God 
should  order  him ;  since  the  same  power,  which  here  caused 
even  a  dumb  animal  to  move  its  tongue  very  differently  from 
•what  it  was  naturally  capable  of,  could  certainly  over-rule 
even  his  tongue,  and  make  him  say  just  what,  and  no  more 
than  what  was  dictated  to  him,  whether  he  was  willing,  or 
designed  to  speak  it  or  not.  Some  writers,  Philo  in  particu- 
lar,^ and  Josephus,^  represent  Balaam  as  actually  over-ruled  in 
the  use  of  his  tongue,  when  he  blessed  the  Israelites;  and 
that  he  would  have  cursed  instead  of  blessing  them,  if  he 
could  have  made  his  tongue  speak  what  he  designed.  But  I 
see  no  reason  to  go  into  this  opinion :  God  abundantly  ap- 
prized Balaam  by  the  miracle  of  the  ass's  speaking,  that  he 
could  thus  over-rule  him,  if  he  pleased;  but  I  believe  he  still 
left  him  the  liberty  of  a  free  agent,  after  having  assured  him 
by  the  angel,  that,  if  he  abused  his  liberty  in  this  particular, 
he  would  destroy  him.  And,  I  think,  both  these  miracles  ap- 
pear to  have  affected  the  Prophet.  He  seemed  after  this  to 
bear  in  mind  a  due  sense  of  his  inability  to  speak  otherwise 
than  God  should  permit;^  and  though  he  used  endeavours, 
and  had  it  at  heart,  if  he  could  any  ways  do  it,  to  gratify  Ba- 
lak;'*  yet  at  last  he  did  not  dare  to  venture,  but  told  the  king, 
without  reserve,  all  that  God,  and  nothing  but  what  God 
had  been  pleased  to  reveal  to  him.*  4.  But  though  the  mira- 
cle of  the  ass's  speaking  was  not  superfluous,  and  insignificant 
to  Balaam;  yet  if  it  had  not  been  a  real  fact,  Moses  could 
have  no  inducement  to  relate  it,  nor  any  purpose  to  serve  by 
it.  The  Israelites  would  have  appeared  under  the  special  pro- 
tection of  God's  providence  as  well  without  it.  And  Moses, 
as  a  wise  and  prudent  man,  if  he  had  no  other  restraint,  would 
not  have  invented  such  an  unheard-of,  needless  prodigy;  for 
it  would  have  been  to  no  purpose,  if  it  had  been  his  inven- 
tion, because  he  could  have  no  scheme  or  end  to  serve  by  it. 

Balaam's  beliaviour  after  he  came  to  Balak;  how  he  endea- 
voured to  find  enchantments  to  curse  the  Israelites,  but  could 
not  succeed  in  them;  and  therefore  instead  of  cursing  them, 
blessed  them  three  times,  and  gave  thereby  great  offence  to 
Balak;  what  he  prophesied  to  Balak,  and  how  Balak  dismissed 
him,  are  points  related  at  large  in  the  xxiiid  and  xxivth  chap- 
ters of  Numbers.     And  I  may  add  what  may  be  remarked 

I  Phil.  Jiid.  lib.  1,  de  vit,  Arosis.  2  Josepli.  Antiq.  lib.  iv.  c.  5. 

•T  Numb,  xxii,  38;  xxiii,  26.  •»  Chap,  xxiii,  23  ;  xxiv,  1. 

s  Chap,  xxxiii,  3—9,  17—24. 


BOOK  XII.  HISTORY  CONNECTED.  181 

upon  them,  if  I  inquire  who  Balaam  was,  and  what  character 
we  ought  to  give  him.  I  have  before  mentioned  where  he 
lived,  when  I3alak  sent  to  him.  It  does  not  seem  as  if  he 
lived  there  in  great  circumstances  of  wealth  and  dignity;  for 
if  he  had  been  in  so  easy  a  situation,  Balak's  offers  of  ad- 
vancement would  not  have  been  so  tempting  to  him.  Or, 
when  he  could  not  obtain  the  advancement  which  had  been 
proposed  to  him,  he  would  have  returned  home  again,  and 
not  have  thought  it  worth  his  while  to  have  stayed  in  Midian. 
But  when  Balak  dismissed  him,  he  behaved  like  a  man  in  nar- 
row circumstances,  and  of  an  ambitious  spirit;  was  willing  to 
ingratiate  himself  with  the  Midianites,  and  gave  them  the 
most  wicked  advice  to  ensnare  the  Israelites  into  ruin;*"  and 
was  found  and  slain  in  this  country,  when  the  Israelites 
warred  against  it,^  Pethor,  in  Mesopotamia,  was  most  pro- 
bably situate  near  or  in  Chaldea,  under  the  government  of  the 
kings  of  Assyria;  and  as  these  nations  had  been  long  infected 
with  idolatry,^  and  were  under  a  government  which  esta- 
blished and  supported  the  idolatrous  worship,  it  is  not  proba- 
ble that  Balaam,  if  he  was  a  prophet  of  the  true  God,  could 
have  any  prospects  of  advancement  in  his  own  country.  The 
ancestors  of  Abraham  and  his  family  were  expelled  this  land 
for  worshipping  the  Gon  of  heaven;^  and  if  Balaam  pursued 
the  worship  of  this  true  God,  whatever  reputation  he  might 
have  as  to  his  private  character,  no  public  advantages  in  his 
own  country  were  likely  to  accrue  to  him  from  it;  which 
might  make  him  so  desirous  to  accept  an  invitation  into  ano- 
ther land. 

It  is  disputed  by  some,  whether  Balaam  was  indeed  a  pro- 
phet and  a  worshipper  of  the  true  God.  They  suppose  that 
he  was  a  mere  magician  or  enchanter;  one  who  prophesied 
by  the  rules  of  vaticination  in  use  in  these  days  among  the 
worshippers  of  false  gods.  If  this  opinion  be  true,  then  the 
revelations,  which  were  made  to  him  from  the  true  God,  must 
have  been  made  to  him  in  a  manner  to  which  he  had  not  been 
accustomed,  and  beyond  his  expectation;  in  like  manner  as 
the  Egyptian  magicians  were  enabled  to  work  real  miracles.^ 
But  I  think  this  notion  of  Balaam  is  not  consistent  with  what 
Moses  relates  concerning  him.  When  the  messengers  of  Ba- 
lak came  first  to  him,  he  immediately  applied  to  God  for  di- 
rection ;2  and  the  God  he  applied  to  was  not  Baal,  nor  any  of 
the  gods  of  the  idolatrous  nations,  but  Jehovah;^  the  true  and 
living  God  was  his  God.  And  he  does  not  appear  to  have 
been  at  any  time  surprised  at  the  answers  which  God  was 
pleased  to  give  him;  or  at  the  angels  appearing  to  him;  or  at 


e  Numb,  xxxi,  16;  Rev.  ii,  14.  i  Numb,  xxxi,  8. 

»  See  vol.  i,  b.  v.  9  josh.  xxiv,  2;  Judith  v,  6,  7,  8. 

»  See  vol.  ii,  b.  ix.  -'  Numb,  xxii,  8. 

♦  Ver.  8,13,  18,  19,  &c. 


182  SACRED  AND  PROFANE  BOOK  XII. 

the  word  of  prophecy  put  into  his  mouth;'*  being  well  ap- 
prised of  and  acquainted  with  God's  communicatins^  his  will 
to  his  servants  in  these  several  ways.  The  only  dubious  ap- 
pearance in  his  behaviour  is,  his  having;  sought  for  enchant- 
ments/ If  he  was  a  prophet  and  servant  of  the  true  God, 
why  should  he  seek  for  enchantments?  or  what  service  could 
he  think  to  receive  from  them?  I  answer;  the  arts  of  magi- 
cians, and  their  enchantments  to  procure  prodigies  and  ora- 
cles, though  the  vulgar  people  did  not  understand  the  founda- 
tion on  which  they  were  built,  were  to  the  wise  men  and  phi- 
losophers the  produce  of  learning  and  natural  science;  falsel}'' 
indeed  so  called,  but  really  esteemed  by  them  to  be  true.'' 
And  as  Moses  was  learned  in  all  the  learning  of  the  Egyp- 
tians,'' though  he  did  not  practise  any  of  the  arts,  which  were 
the  basis  and  support  of  false  religion  f  so  Balaam,  though  he 
had  hitherto  virtuously  adhered  to  the  true  God,  might,  as  a 
learned  man,  not  be  entirely  a  stranger  to  the  theory  of  what 
human  science  and  the  then  reputed  natural  knowledge  had 
advanced  upon  these  subjects.  And  as  Saul,  though  he  had 
before  put  away  those,  that  had  familiar  spirits,  and  the 
wizards  out  of  the  landf  was  yet  induced,  when  the  Lord 
answered  him  not,  neither  by  dreams,  nor  by  Uritn,  nor  by 
prophets,  to  go  to  a  woman  that  had  a  familiar  spirit,  and 
inquire  of  her  ;^  so  Balaam,  finding  nothing  but  a  full  disappoint- 
ment of  all  his  views,  in  the  several  revelations  which  God 
was  pleased  to  make  to  him,  and  being  warmly  inclined  to 
purchase,  if  he  might  with  any  colour  be  able  to  do  it,  the  ad- 
vancement which  Balak  had  offered  him,  was  tempted  to  try 
what  might  be  the  event,  if  he  used  some  of  the  arts  which 
the  most  learned  nations  held  in  the  highest  repute,  and 
esteemed  to  be  of  the  greatest  efficacy.^  He  tried,  but  found 
no  enchantment  against  Jacob,  nor  any  divination  against 
Israel?  What  particular  arts  he  used,  or  upon  what  rules  of 
science  he  proceeded,  I  cannot  say ;  for  Moses  has  not  told  us. 
But  if  his  building  seven  altars,  was  as  I  have  supposed,  one 
of  his  artifices,"*  it  will  hint  that  he  had  copied  after  the  Egyp- 
tian theology.  For,  as  they  worshipped  at  this  time  the  lights 
of  heaven,  so  they  first  imagined  the  seven  days  of  the  week 
to  be  under  the  respective  influences  of  seven  of  these  lumi- 
naries.*    The  Chaldeans  are  thought  to  have  come  into  this 

t  Numb,  xxii,  9,  10,  12,  20,  31,  34;  xxiii,  4,  5,  16. 

^'  Ch.ip,  xxiv,  1.  fi  See  vol.  ii,  1).  ix. 

'  Acts  vii,  22.  ^  See  vol.  ii,  b,  ix. 

9  1  Sam.  xxviii,  3.  '  Ver.  6,  7. 

-  Tliey  imas^ined  that  oracles  and  prodigies  might  be  procured  by  these 
arts,  sine  Deo.'    See  vol.  ii,  b.  ix. 

'  Numb,  xxiii,  23.  ^  Vol.  ii,  b.  ix. 

f'  Ka/  raJi  ckka  Aiyvrriotirt  i^i  t^tupn/uiVi-  fxitc  ti  x-xi  iifA(p>i  atasi;  3-«i'V  onu  t^i. 
Herodot.  1,  ii,  c.  82.  Dio  Cassiiis  dicil,  Dispositioncm  dieruni  ad  septeni 
planetas  inventiim  fuisse  ..t^gyptionmi.  I'hilastrius  Hi-ixicnsis  expresse  assc- 
rit,  Ilermen  defmivisse  secundum  septem  Stellas  homiimm  generationcm  coi' 
sistcre.    Yid.  .Marsh.  Can.  Chron.  p.  448. 


BOOK  XII.  HISTORY  CONNECTED.  183 

doctrine  next  after  the  Egyptians;*^  other  nations  did  not  ad- 
mit it  so  early.^  Belus,  the  son  of  Neptune,  had  obtained 
leave  for  himself  and  some  Egyptian  priests  to  make  a  settle- 
ment at  Babylon  about  half  a  century  before  Balak  sent  for 
Balaam.^  Belus  and  his  followers  taught  the  Chaldeans  their 
astronomy,  and  probably  introduced  this  Egyptian  notion  of 
the  influence  of  the  seven  ruling  stars,  which  might  now  be 
the  reigning  doctrine  in  Balaam's  time;  and  he,  not  being  a 
stranger  to  the  learning  of  the  age  and  country  he  lived  in, 
might  know  enough  of  it  to  make  a  show  before  Balak  of  pro- 
ceeding to  his  auguries  by  the  rules  of  it.^  And  if  the  sacri- 
fices of  Balak  had  been  attended  with  any  such  circumstances 
as  those,  upon  inspection  of  which  the  idolatrous  prophets 
formed  their  divinations,  I  question  not  but  Baalam  had  a  dis- 
position to  take  occasion  to  speak  from  them.  But  the  provi- 
dence of  God  seems  not  to  have  permitted  him  to  have  a  pos- 
sibility of  being  mistaken.  If  he  would  have  cursed  the  Is- 
raelites, he  must  have  done  it,  and  at  the  same  time  have  had 
a  full  sense  that  they  were  blessed,  without  any  room  for 
doubt  or  suspicion  that  it  could  be  otherwise ;  and  he  was  not 
hardy  enough  to  be  guilty  of  such  an  abandoned  prostitution; 
but  upon  offering  his  third  sacrifice  he  gave  over.  He  went 
not  as  at  other  times  to  seek  for  enctiantmentsy  This  place 
I  think  is  not  well  rendered:  the  Hebrew  words  intimate  to 
us,  that  he  did  not  perform  the  ceremonies  in  walking  or 
dancing  round  the  altar,  by  which  the  idolaters  endeavoured 
to  procure  vaticinations  -^  but  he  set  his  face  towards  the  wil- 

6  Clem.  Ales.  Stromat.  lib.  i. 

'  Marsham,  ubl  sup. 

8  See  vol.  ii,  b.  viii,  \>.  162. 

3  Some  critics  have  imagined  that  Balaam  built  and  offered  upon  seven  al- 
tars, upon  account  of  the  states  he  offered  for  beintj  in  number  seven.  The 
Moabites  indeed  were  under  one  head,  Balak  being  their  king,  but  the  Midian- 
ites  were  under  elders  ;  and  it  is  conjectured,  that  they  were  divided  into  se- 
ven principalities;  but  this  imagination  is  entirely  groundless.  The  kings  or 
heads  of  Midian  were  five,  not  seven ;  Numb,  xxxi,  8  ;  and  had  the  number  of 
Balaam's  altars  been  owmg  to  the  number  of  states  he  sacrificed  for,  he  must 
have  built  not  seven,  but  six  only,  five  for  the  states  of  Midian,  and  one  for  the 
king  of  Moab. 

'  Numb,  xxiv,  1. 

-  One  of  the  heathen  rites  made  use  of  to  procure  success  to  their  sacrifices, 
was  their  dancing  or  moving  in  set  steps  backwards  and  forwards,  from  side 
to  side,  round  about  their  altars.  This  the  priests  of  Baal  did  in  order  to  pro- 
cure fire  from  heaven  in  the  days  of  Elijah,  1  Kings  xviii,  26.  And  this  cere- 
mony Balaam  seems  to  have  performed  at  each  of  the  preceding  sacrifices;  at 
his  last  sacrifice  he  gave  over.  Our  translation  of  the  words  would  induce 
one  to  imagine,  that  his  going  away  from  Balak  to  meet  or  invoke  the  Lord, 
was  his  going  to  seek  enchantments,  but  the  Hebrew  text  suggests  no  such 
thing.     The  Hebrew  words  are, 

D^ifnj  nN-\p'7  aj)D3  Dyes  iSn  vh^ 
In  Latin  thus, 

Et  non  ambulavit  secundum  vicem  in  vice,  &c. 
The  Greeks  afterwards  performed  these  ambulations  thus  :  First,  they  moved 
towards  the  west,  turning  from  the  east,  singing  a  sacred  liymn :  then  they  re- 


l84  SACRED  AND  PROFANE  BOOK  XII. 

derness,  and  lifting  up  his  eyes,  he  saw  Israel  abiding  in  his 
tents  according  to  his  tribes ;  and  the  Spirit  o/ God  came 
upon  him,  and  he  told  Balak,  without  reserve,  all  that  God 
was  pleased  to  reveal  to  hiin.^  Balak  was  provoked  at  what 
Balaam  now  delivered  to  him;^  for  Balaam  spake  now  in  a 
higher  strain  than  ever  in  favour  of  the  Israelites;  hut  as  he 
had  now  omitted  some  ceremonies,  which  he  had  before  used 
to  give  effect  to  his  sacrifices,  and  had  not  gone  aside,  as  he 
twice  before  had  done,  to  meet  or  invoke  God,  Balak  could 
see  no  cogent  reason  for  his  so  speaking.  Balaam  indeed  pre- 
faced what  he  delivered,  with  declaring  them  to  be  the  toords 
which  he  heard  from  God,  when  he  saiu  the  vision  of  the 
AhMiGHTY, /ailing  into  a  trance,  but  having  his  eyes  open.^ 
Certainly  no  such  vision  was  ever  seen  by  Balaam  whilst  Ba- 
lak was  with  him;  so  that  this  revelation  was  made  to  him 
when  he  was  alone,  probably  before  he  had  attended  upon 
Balak's  sacrifices;  and  now  upon  his  giving  over  all  farther 
thoughts  of  amusing  or  gratifying  Balak,  God  inspired  him  to 
recollect  and  deliver  all  that  had  been  revealed  to  him ;  and 
Balak  was  so  offended  at  his  now  speaking  in  so  extraordinary 
a  manner  in  favour  of  his  enemies,  because,  to  his  apprehen- 
sion, nothing  had  happened  to  cause  his  so  doing.  The  pro- 
phet however  proceeded  and  advertised  him,  what  Israel 
should  do  to  his  people  in  after-ages.^  Balak  paid  but  little 
regard  to  what  he  said,  dismissed  him  with  contempt,  appre- 
hending that  he  in  nowise  answered  the  character  which  had 
been  given  of  him.^  Hereupon  Balaam  left  him,  and  went  to 
the  Midianites,  and  formed  a  project  to  obtain  their  favour. 
He  well  knew  that  the  prosperity  of  the  Israelites  depended 
upon  their  continuing  to  serve  the  living  God;  therefore  he 
apprised  the  Midianites,  that  if  they  could  seduce  them  to 
idolatry,  they  might  then  have  hopes  of  prevailing  against 
them.^  This  was  that  counsel  which  Balaam  gave  the  Mi- 
dianites to  cause  the  children  of  Israel  to  commit  trespass 
against  the  Lord.^  And  it  is  possible  tliat  he  might  amuse 
himself  with  the  pretence  of  even  a  good  view  in  it;  for  had 
it  succeeded,  and  had  the  children  of  Israel  been  ruined  by 
his  scheme,  why  might  he  not  have  hoped,  after  so  signal  a 
success,  to  have  had  interest  and  influence  enough  over  tiie 
Midianites  to  have,  perhaps,  brought  them  by  degrees  into 
the  service  of  his  own  God,  and  so  to  have  promoted  botli 
God's  glory  and  his  own  advancement  together.  All  this 
might  look  well  in  the  eye  of  a  politician ;  but  much  better 
had  it  been  for  Balaam  to  have  lived  at  home  at  Pethor,  than 


turned  from  tlie  west  back  to  the  cast  again ;  and  such  turns  or  vices  as 
these,  1  imagine  Balaam  had  practised  at  Balak's  sacrifices  before  and  round 
the  altars. 

3  Numb,  xxiv,  2—9.  ■»  Ver.  10.  5  Vcr.  4. 

fi  Ver.  14—24.  "  Ver.  11.  «  See  Rev.  ii,  14. 

3  Numb,  xxxi,  16. 


BOOK  XII.  HISTORY  CONNECTED.  185 

to  be  laying  out  these  projects  among  the  elders  of  Midian. 
Had  there  been  any  design  of  Providence  to  be  carried  on,  by 
his  coming  out  of  private  life,  God  both  could  and  would  have 
appointed  events,  which  by  natural  steps  would  have  raised 
him  to  that  station,  in  which  he  intended  he  should  be  useful 
to  the  world.  And  if  the  Providence  of  God  had  no  em- 
ployment for  him,  how  could  it  be  worth  his  while  to  attempt 
the  ruin  of  a  very  numerous  people  in  order  to  gratify  his 
own  ambition?  He  might  have  lived  at  Pethor  in  peace  and 
quiet,  innocence  and  content;  and  if  he  had  never  been  great 
in  the  world,  he  might  have  died  the  death  of  the  righteous, 
and  his  last  end  have  been  like  his.^  But  he  warmly  pursued 
other  views,  and  was  drawn  away  far  into  a  foreign  land, 
where  he  lost  his  integrity,  and  brought  himself  to  an  un- 
happy and  untimely  end. 

Whilst  the  Israelites  were  at  Shittim,  the  Moabites  became 
acquainted  with  them  ;  made  them  visits  in  their  camp,  and 
invited  them  to  their  feasts;  and  the  Israelites  fell  in  love 
with  the  daughters  of  Moab,^  and  an  evil  communication  cor- 
rupted their  manners,  and  led  them  into  idolatry.^  Many  of 
them  went  to  the  Moabites'  sacrifices,  and  partook  of  them, 
and  joined  in  the  worship.'*  Whereupon  the  anger  of  the 
Lord  was  kindled  against  Israel,  and  he  commanded  Moses 
to  order  the  judges  to  put  to  death  those  who  had  committed 
this  wickedness.*  The  MidianitRs  wpre  instructed  by  Balaam 
to  draw  the  Israelites  into  this  evil.^  'fhey  communicated 
the  advice  to  Balak,  and  the  Moabites  joined  with  them  in 
effecting  it,  Balaam  is  said  to  have  taught  Balak  to  cast  a 
stumhling-hlock  before  the  children  of  Israel ;  to  eat  things 
sacrificed  unto  idols,  and  to  commit  for nicatio7i  J  But  we 
do  not  read  where  Balaam  gave  any  counsel  of  this  sort  im- 
mediately to  Balak.  It  seems  more  probable,  that  what  he 
advised  was  to  the  Midianites  after  he  left  Balak  ;^  though 
both  nations  joined  to  do  what  he  directed.  The  one  ac- 
quainted the  other  with  the  scheme  he  had  taught  them; 
and  so  either  or  both  might,  though  not  immediately,  yet 
truly  be  said  to  be  taught  by  him;  because  both  followed  his 
doctrine  in  what  they  did  in  this  matter.  Whilst  the  Isi'ael- 
ites  were  under  God's  displeasure  for  this  wickedness,  and  a 
pestilence  raged  in  the  camp,  Zimri,  the  son  of  Salu,  brought 
into  his  tent  Cozbi  the  daughter  of  Zur,  a  prince  of  Midian, 
in  the  sight  of  all  the  congregation;  but  Phinehas  the  son  of 
Eleazar  the  son  of  Aaron,  took  a  javelin  and  went  after  them, 
and  slew  them  both.^  At  their  deaths  the  plague  stayed,  after 
four  and  twenty  thousand  had  died  of  it.^ 


1  Numb,  xxiii,  10.  2  Chap,  xxv,  1.  ^  Ver.  2,  3. 

^  Ver.  1.  5  Ver.  4,  5.  6  Ciiap.  xxxi,  16. 

V  Rev.  ii,  14.  a  See  Numb.  xxx"i,  16. 

9  Chap,  xxv,  6—8.  i  Ver.  9. 

Vol.  III.  A  a 


186  SACKED  AND  PROFANE        BOOK  XII. 

There  may  be  several  doubts  raised  about  this  act  of  Phine- 
has :  it  may  be  thought  a  very  rash,  irregular,  and  unjustifia- 
ble procedure.     Zimri  was  a  prince  of  a  chief  house  among 
the  Simeon ites,  say  our  translators:  the   Hebrew  text  styles 
him,  prince  of  the  house  of  his  father  Simeon.^     He  was, 
perhaps,  the  head  of  that  tribe,^  and  not  accountable  to  Phine- 
has  for  his  behaviour;  how  then  coukl  Phinehas  have  a  right 
to  execute  this  vengeance   upon  him?  or  what  could  be  the 
safety  of  even  the  highest  magistrates  in  this  economy,  if  pri- 
vate men  might  put  on  an  officious  zeal,  and  assassinate,  at 
pleasure,  those  whose  actions  were  unjustifiable  and  deserved 
punishment?  I  answer:   1.  That  God  had  expressly  ordered 
the  persons  who  committed  this  wickedness,'*  to  be  punished 
with  death;  so  that  nothing  was  done  to  Zimri  more  than  God 
had  directed  to  be  the  punishment  of  the  crime  he  was  guilty 
of.     2.  Before  Zimri  appeared  in  this  action,  Moses  had  or- 
dered the  people  to  be  punished  in  the  regular  way  of  their 
administration,  by  the  proper  officers  who  were  over  them;* 
but  Zimri  was,  I  think,  one  of  the  supreme  judges,  one  of  the 
renowned  men  of  the  congregation,"  a  prince  of  a  tribe,  a  head 
of  thousands  in  Israel,  and  had  a  right  to  stand  with  Moses 
and  Aaron   in  their  government  of  the  people;  and  conse- 
quently could  not  regularly  be  brought  under  sentence  of  the 
judges,  who  were  inferior  to  him.     And  this  must  have  been 
the  foundation  for  the  insnlenofi  ni  his  behaviour.   He  brought 
unto  his  brethren  a  Midianitish  ivovian   in   the  sight  of 
Moses,   and  in  the  sight  of  all  the  congregation  of  the 
children  of  Israel,  ivho  were  iveeping  before  the  doar  of  the 
tabernacle.'^     He   was  so   far  from  paying  regard   to  what 
Moses  had  ordered,  that  he  acted  in  open  defiance  of  it;  and 
instead  of  appointing  the  judges  of  his  tribe  to  punish  those 
who  were  under  their  jurisdiction,  as  God  had   commanded, 
he  openly,  and  in  the  face  of  the  congregation,  abetted  by  his 
own  practice  what  he  ought  to  have  used  his  authority  to  cor- 
rect and  suppress.     Therefore   something  extraordinary  was 
here  necessary  to  be  done,  to  punish  a  crime,  which  appeared 
too  daring  to  be  corrected,  in  the  practice  of  a  person,   who 
seemed  too  great  to  be  called  to  account  for  it.     And  indeed, 
3.  We  do  not  read,  that  the  judges  did  at  all  exert  themselves 
in  executing  the  orders,  which  Moses  had  given  them.  Moses 
had  required   them   to  slay  evert/  one  his  man,  who  ivere 
joined  unto  Baal-peor  f  but  we  hear  of  none  who  fell  for 
this  wickedness,  except  this  Zimri  and  those  who  died  of  the 


-  The  Hebrew  words,  Numb,  xxv,  14,  are, 

sul  Siuieonib  patns  do  iius  pnnceps  Saluu  iiiJiis  Ziinri. 

3  .See  Numb,  i.  A,  16.     In  this  sense  Josephiis  took  the  words.     He  styles 
him  ZctfjiCjJtuf  c  T«c  XtJfAm\iJ'Ji  fiuKu;  nyv/xivoi.     Auliq.  lib.  iv,  c.  6,  sec.  10. 

4  Numb,  xxv,  4.  »  ^•er.  5.  <^  Cbap.  i,  16 
'  Chap,  xxv,  C.                              ^  Ver.  5. 


BOOK  XII.  HISTORY  CONNECTED.  187 

plague.^  The  transgression  was  too  universal  to  be  corrected 
by  a  judiciary  proceeding;  and  as  Moses  was  once  before 
obliged  to  summon  the  Levites  in  an  extraordinary  manner 
to  punish  a  sin,  in  which  great  numbers  of  persons,  and  high 
in  station  and  authority,  had  engaged;^  so  in  this  case  some- 
thing of  a  like  nature  was  absolutely  necessary  to  bring  the 
offenders  to  condign  punishment.  But,  4.  Since  there  is  no 
lawful  and  justifiable  poiver,  but  of  God;^  since  in  every 
government  the  powers  that  have  a  right  to  command  or  to 
punish,  must  be  ordained  of  God,^  either  by  deriving»their 
authority  from  the  constitution  of  such  government  (for  thus 
every  ordinance  of  tnaii'*  may  have  a  right  of  authority,  and 
be  the  ordinance  ofGoD,y  or  by  being  appointed  by  imme- 
diate revelation,  and  an  express  commission  from  heaven; 
and  since  Phinehas  had  no  authority  to  punish  Zimri  from 
any  law  or  constitution  in  the  Jewish  economy,  I  must  con- 
fess that,  unless  he  had  a  divine  command  for  what  he  did  in 
this  matter,  I  should  think  his  taking  vengeance  in  the  man- 
ner in  which  he  signalized  himself,  must  want  a  further  justi- 
fication than  what  we  could  offer  for  it,  from  the  plea  of  a 
warm  but  well-meant  zeal  to  assert  the  glory  of  God,  and  to 
put  a  stop  to  the  insolence  and  wickedness  of  the  people;  and 
he  ought  certainly,  notwithstanding  such  a  plea,  to  have  been 
called  to  answer  for  it  before  the  proper  judges,  if,  5.  God 
had  not,  in  an  extraordinary  manner,  declared  his  acceptance 
and  approbation  of  the  death  of  Zimri.  As  soon  as  Zimri  was 
dead,  the  Lord  spake  unto  Moses,  saying,  Phinehas  the 
son  of  Eltazar,  the  son  of  ^aron  tiie  priest,  hath  turned 
my  wrath  away  from  the  children  of  Israel  (while  he  was 
zealous  for  m,y  sake  among  them)  that  I  consumed  not 
the  children  of  Israel  in  my  jealousy.  Wherefore  say,  be- 
hold, I  give  unto  him  m,y  covenant  of  peace.  Jind  he  shall 
have  it,  and  his  seed  after  him,  even  the  covenant  of  an 
everlasting  priesthood;  because  he  was  zealous  for  his  God, 
and  made  an  atonement  for  the  children  of  Israel.^  God 
declared  this  to  Moses  by  a  sj^ecial  revelation.  And  that  God 
irideed  did  reveal  it,  and  that  it  was  not  a  pretence  of  Moses 
to  protect  Phinehas,  was  apparent  to  the  congregation,  being 
sufficiently  attested  by  the  plague's  ceasing  as  soon  as  Zimri 
was  dead.^  I  am  sensible  that  what  is  already  offered  is  suf- 
ficient to  vindicate  the  behaviour  of  Phinehas.  If  God  him- 
self declared  him  to  be  acquitted,  who  should  condemn  him.? 
And  his  example  can  lay  no  foundation  for  a  dangerous  imi- 
tation; for  it  will  in  nowise  prove,  that  an  illegal  action, 
though  proceeding  from  a  most  upright  heart,  zealously  af- 
fected in  a  good  thing,  is  ever  to  be  justified,  unless  God,  by 

9  Numb.  XXV,  9.  i  Exod.  xxxii,  26.  -  Rom.  xiii,  I. 

3  Ibid.  *■  Kt^^amnn  ktio-k.     1  Pet.  ii,  13. 

5  Rom.  xiii,  2.  «  Numb,  xxv,  10,  11,  12,  13. 
'  Ver.  8. 


188  SACRED  AND  PROFANE  BOOK  XII. 

an  express  and  well-attested  revelation  from  heaven,  declares 
his  patronage  and  acceptance  of  it.  But,  6.  I  might  add  far- 
ther, that  what  Phinehas  did  was  not  only  the  effect  of  zeal, 
hut  rather  God  revealed  himself  to  him  hefore  he  attacked 
Zimri,  and  required  him  to  cutoff  that  high  offender;  and 
consequently  Phinehas  had  as  clear  and  full  a  commission  for 
what  he  did,  as  Moses  had  for  the  discharge  of  the  offices  unto 
which  God  appointed  him,  though  Moses  and  the  congrega- 
tion were  not  at  first  apprised  of  it.  Phinehas  is  said,  by  the 
death.of  Zimri,  to  have  made  an  atonement  for  the  children 
of  Israel.*  But  what  merit  could  there  be  in  the  death  of 
Zimri?  How  could  that  expiate  the  sins  of  the  congrega- 
tion? Or  what  had  Phinehas  to  do  in  pretending  to  make 
atonement,  unless  God  had  appointed  him  ?  For  no  man 
taketh  this  honour  to  himself,  nor  can  perform  this  office 
with  any  effect,  but  he  that  is  called  of  Oon  as  was  Aaron.^ 
Or  if  Phinehas  had  been  entitled  to  endeavour  to  procure  a 
reconciliation  of  God  to  his  people,  he  must  surely  have  at- 
tempted it  in  some  way  which  God  appointed ;  and  not  by  a 
strange  service,  which  God  commanded  him  not,^  and  which 
must  therefore  have  been  more  likely  to  offend  than  to  please 
him.2  But  all  these  difficulties  are  fully  cleared  by  what 
Moses  was  ordered  to  declare  to  the  Israelites:  Wherefore 
say,  Behold  I  give  unto  him  my  covenant  of  peace?  The 
verse  is  injudiciouly  translated.  The  Hebrew  words,  hinneni 
nothen  lo  bar  it  hi  shalom,  signify,  behold  it  was  Iivho  gave 
to  him  my  covenant  of  peace  ;^  and  the  declaration  was  in- 
tended to  inform  the  congrpgation,  that  Phinehas  had  not 
done  a  rash  action,  moved  to  it  by  a  mere  warmth  of  heart, 
but  that  God  had  directed  him  to  what  he  had  performed; 
made  him  an  express  covenant  upon  his  performing  it;  as- 
suring him,  that  the  doing  it  should  obtain  pardon  for  the 
people;  and  that  upon  the  death  of  Zimri  and  Cozbi,  slain  by 
his  hand,  the  wickedness,  which  had  been  committed  in  the 
camp,  should  be  forgiven.  In  this  view  of  the  fact  all  is  clear, 
and  it  is  easy  to  see  how  a  covenant  of  peace  was  given  to 
Phinehas;  how  he  was  enabled  to  make  atonement  for  the 
people;  and  in  what  sense  the  death  of  the  offenders  slain  by 
him  was  such  atonement;  and  what  he  did  stands  clear  of 
the  objections  which  can  be  offered  against  an  irregular  zeal; 
for  it  was  not  an  instance  of  such  a  zeal,  but  of  one  more  de- 


8  Numb.  XXV,  13.  ^  Heb.  v,  4.  '  See  I^v.  x,  1,  &.c. 

2  See  the  cse  of  Nadab  and  Abihu,  b.  xi,  p.  115.  3  Nunib.  xxv,  12. 

-•  The  Hebrew  text  is  thus  written  and  pointed: 

i.  e.  Ecce  me  dantem  illi  pactum  meum  pacis.  Ecce,  me,  dantem,  i.  e.  Ecce 
me,  qAii  dabam.  The  participle  is  of  the  imperfect  tense  as  well  as  of  the 
present. 


BOOK  XII.  HISTORY  CONNECTED.  169 

fensible,  namely,  of  a  zealous  and  intrepid   performance  of 
what  God  by  an  express  revelation  had  required  of  him. 

God  was  indeed  pleased  to  promise  here,  ver.  13,  by  Moses, 
an  addition  to  the  favour  before  granted  to  Phinehas.  God  be- 
fore gave  him  his  covenant  of  peace ;  but  this  extended  no  far- 
ther than  to  the  making  him  the  instrument  of  obtaining  par- 
don for  the  sin,  upon  account  of  which  the  people  were  under 
his  displeasure.  But  now,  because  Phinehas  was  zealous  for 
his  God,  and  had  performed  the  service  to  which  he  was  called, 
with  a  ready  heart,  God  was  pleased  to  promise  that  the  grant 
made  to  him  should  stand  in  force,  until  it  conveyed  the 
priesthood  to  him,  and  to  his  seed  after  him,^  Our  transla- 
tors render  the  13th  verse,  Jlnd  he  shall  Jiave  it,  and  his 
seed  after  him,  even  the  covenant  of  an  everlasting  priest- 
hood;  but  this  version  is  far  from  expressing  the  true  mean- 
ing of  the  place.  The  Hebrew  words  rightly  translated,  are, 
Jliid  it  shall  be  to  him,  and  to  his  seed  after  him,  a  cove- 
nant, or  grant,  of  the  everlasting  priesthood:^  i.  e.  My 
grant  or  promise  shall  not  here  expire,  upon  his  having  ob- 
tained what  I  agreed  to  give  him,  namely,  a  pardon  for  my 
people,  but  shall  continue  still  in  force,  to  assure  him,  that  in 
due  time  he  shall  himself  be  high-priest,  and  his  seed  after 
him.  God  had  before  this  time  limited  the  priesthood  to 
Aaron  and  his  descendants,  and  it  was  to  be  to  them  an  ever- 
lasting priesthood  throughout  their  generations  f  it  was 
ever  to  descend  by  inheritance  in  their  families  from  genera- 
tion to  generation.  Now  this  it  might  have  done,  though 
neither  Phinehas  nor  any  child  of  his  had  ever  been  possessed 
of  it;  for  Phinehas  and  his  son  or  sons,  whether  he  had  one 
or  more,  might  have  died  before  Eleazar,  and  in  such  case, 
Eleazar's  next  heir  would  have  had  the  priesthood,  and  it 
would  have  gone  down  to  his,  and  not  to  Phinehas's  descen- 
dants. But  the  promise  now  made  to  Phinehas  was  an  as- 
surance to  him  of  God's  protection  to  preserve  both  him  and 
his  seed,  so  that  the  priesthood  should  descend  to  them.  The 
commentators  have,  I  think,  all  of  them  run  into  a  difficulty, 
which  they  are  not  able  to  get  out  of  They  suppose,  that 
the  term  everlasting  is  here  joined  to  the  priesthood,  to  ex- 
press the  continuance  of  the  priesthood  amongst  Phinehas's 
descendants ;  as  if  God  here  had  promised  Phinehas  and  his 
seed  after  him  the  grant  of  an  everlasting  priesthood ;  or  of  a 
priesthood  which  should  ever  remain  in  their  hands,  without 
being  at  any  time  translated  into  any  other  branch  of  Aaron's 
family.*    But  then  they  are  at  a  loss  how  to  make  out  the 

i  Numb.  XXV,  13. 

*  The  Hebrew  words  are, 

aSiv  njna  nna  innN  iviiSi  iS  nn^ni 
secull  sacerclotii  pactum  earn  post  ejus  semini  et  ei  erit  Et. 

"  Exod.  xl,  15.  8  Yid.  Cleric.  Comment,  in  loc. 


190  SACKED  AND  PROFANE        BOOK  XII. 

performance  of  this  promise;  for  they  observe  that  Eli,  who 
was  high-priest  in  the  days  of  Samuel,  was  of  the  family  of 
Ithamar;  and  that  therefore  the  priesthood  went  out  of  the 
hands  of  the  descendants  of  Phinehas,  when  it  came  to  Eli, 
and  that  it  did  not  return  again  to  them  until,  after  some  suc- 
cessions, it  came  again  to  Zadoc  in  the  days  of  David.  But 
I  think  this  difficulty  might  be  avoided.  We  need  not  sup- 
pose that  the  priesthood  is  here  called  everlasting,  to  express 
a  design  of  a  perpetual  continuance  of  it  to  Phinehas's  de- 
scendants ;  but  rather  the  term  everlasting  is  the  appellation 
annexed  to  the  priesthood  in  its  limitation  to  the  family  of 
Aaron  ;^  and  suggests  no  more  than  that  the  priesthood  of 
Aaron  should  descend  to  them.  God  made  to  Phinehas  and 
to  his  seed  after  him,  not  an  everlasting  grant  of  the  priest- 
hood, as  some  commentators  take  it;^  nor  a  grant  of  an  ever- 
lasting priesthood,  as  our  English  version  renders  the  place; 
but  rather  a  grant  of  the  everlasting  priesthood ;  of  the  priest- 
hood limited  to  Aaron  and  his  descendants  by  that  appella- 
tion. And  this  promise  would  have  been  fulfilled,  if  the 
priesthood  had  descended  only  to  Eleazar  and  his  son.  I  am 
sensible  that  the  Jews  before  and  about  our  Saviour's  time 
had  a  notion,  that  Phinehas  had  a  grant  of  an  everlasting 
priesthood  to  him  and  his  posterity.  The  author  of  the  book 
of  Ecclesiasticus  seems  to  have  been  of  this  opinion,^  as  well 
as  Philo  Judaeus,^  and  others;  but  in  fact  there  was  not  such 
a  perpetuity  of  the  possession  of  the  priesthood  in  this  family; 
no  inspired  writer  has,  I  think,  hinted,  that  the  passage  con- 
tains such  a  promise,  and  the  text  does  not  appear  to  imply  it. 
Upon  the  ceasing  of  the  plague,  God  commanded  Moses 
and  Eleazar  to  take  a  poll  of  the  Israelites;'*  at  casting  up  of 
which  the  people  were  found  to  be  six  hundred  and  one  thou- 
sand, seven  hundred  and  thirty  men  of  twenty  years  old  and 
upwards,  without  the  Levites;^  and  the  Levites  from  a  month 
old  and  upwards  were  twenty-three  thousand.*'  Now  from 
this  poll  it  appeared,  that  there  was  no  one  person  now  alive 
of  those  whom  Moses  and  Aaron  had  numbered  in  the  wil- 
derness of  Sinai,  except  Moses  himself  and  Caleb  and  Joshua.^ 
At  this  time  the  daughters  of  Zelophehad  represented  the 
death  of  their  father,  and  his  having  left  no  sons  ;^  and  Moses 
brought  their  cause  before  the  Lord,  and  received  a  law  for 
the  settling  their  inheritance."     And  now  Moses  was  ordered 

9  Exod.  xl,  15. 

»  The  critics  write  the  text  [Baritli  Keliunnah  le  Nolam]  Pactum  Sacerdotii 
sempiternum,  ./l  covenant  of  the  priesihoo<l  for  ever.  Le  Clerc  says,  Foedus  Sa- 
cerdotii perpetuiim.  Hut  they  mistake  the  word  in  the  text.  The  Hebrew 
text  is  J^Tolum.  ami  not  le  JVolmn,  for  ever. 

2  Ecclus.  xlv,  24. 

3  Philo  says,  there  was  given  to  Phinehas,  ^otyKfaLrntrtav  «£/;*<rwv>ic  uurce,  xsa 
y»u  K^Mfcvo/xioLv  avitfiifiriy.    de  Vit.  Mosis,  lib.  i,  p.  649. 

4  Numb,  xxvi,  1,  2.  ^  Ver.  51.  6  Ver.  62. 

7  Ver.  64.  s  (;ijap.  xxvii,  1,  2,  &c.  9  Ver.  3—11, 


BOOK  XII.  HISTORY  CONNECTED.  191 

to  arm  a  thousand  out  of  each  tribe,  and  send  them  under  the 
command  of  Phinehas  to  war  against  the  Midianites/  and 
God  delivered  into  their  hand  the  rulers  of  Midian;  and  with- 
out the  loss  of  one  man  they  made  an  absolute  conquest  of  all 
their  territories.^  Balaam  lived  in  Midian  at  this  time,  and 
fell  by  the  sword  of  the  Israelites.^ 

The  Israelites  were  now  in  possession  of  a  considerable 
country,  part  of  which  the  children  of  Reuben  and  Gad  de- 
sired to  have  for  their  inheritance ;  and  came  to  Moses  and 
Eleazar  to  petition  for  it.*  Moses  at  first  thought  their  re- 
quest highly  unreasonable,  and  remonstrated,  that  for  them  to 
desire  to  be  settled,  before  Canaan  was  conquered,  would  be 
a  refusal  to  serve  in  the  war,  unto  which  God  had  appointed 
them  as  well  as  other  Israelites,  and  might  bring  down  the 
divine  vengeance  upon  the  congregation,  if  they  should  con- 
sent to  it.^  Hereupon  the  two  tribes  explained  their  meaning; 
that  they  intended  not  to  desert  their  brethren,  but  only  to 
settle  their  families  in  these  parts;  that  they  designed  them- 
selves to  march  with  the  camp,  and  assist  in  reducing  the  land 
of  Canaan.^  Upon  these  terms  Moses  consented,  and  ordered 
Eleazar  the  priest,  and  Joshua  the  son  of  Nun,  and  the  chief 
fathers  of  the  tribes,  to  divide  to  the  children  of  Gad  and  of 
Reuben,  and  to  the  half  tribe  of  Manasseh,  all  the  land  which 
the  Israelites  had  conquered  on  the  east  side  of  Jordan.'^  After 
this  he  gave  directions  for  dividing  the  land  of  Canaan,  when 
they  should  have  conquered  it;^  charging  them  to  expel  the 
inhabitants,  and  demolish  all  the  monuments  of  their  idola- 
tries;^ declaring,  that  if  they  were  remiss  herein,  terrible  in- 
conveniences would  ensue.^  Then  he  described  the  land, 
telling  them  its  bounds  and  extent,^  and  named  the  persons 
who  should  divide  it  when  conquered.^  He  appointed  them 
to  allot  the  Levites  their  cities,'*  and  to  set  out  the  cities  of 
refuge.*  He  settled  an  inconvenience  arising  from  the  in- 
heritance of  daughters,  upon  a  remonstrance  brought  before 
him  by  the  sons  of  Gilead.*^  And  now  he  was  reminded, 
that  he  was  not  to  go  into  the  Land  of  Promise.^  He  prayed 
God  to  permit  him  to  go  into  it;  but  his  prayer  was  not  ac- 
cepted.* He  was  ordered  to  go  up  to  Mount  Abarim  or  Pis- 
gah,  and  from  thence  to  take  a  view  of  the  land ;  but  he  was 
expressly  told,  that  he  should  not  go  over  Jordan.^  Hereupon 
he  begged  of  God  to  name  a  person  to  lead  the  people;  and 
God  directed  him  to  appoint  Joshua.^  And  at  this  time  I 
suppose  the  laws  mentioned  in  the  xxviiith,  xxixth,  and  xxxtb 
chapters  of  Numbers  were  given. 

'  Numb,  xxxi,  1—6.  2  Ver.  / — 14.  3  Ver.  8. 

4  Chap,  xxxii,  I.  5  Ver.  6—15.  6  Ver.  16—27. 

'  Ver.  33.  s  chap  xxxiii,  54.  »  Ver.  52,  53. 

'  Ver.  55,  56.  2  chap,  xxxiv,  1—16.  ^  ygr.  iT—29. 

4  Chap.  XXXV,  2—8.  3  Ver.  9—34.  «  Chap,  xxxvi. 

7  Ch<tp.  xxvu,  12.  B  Deut.  iii,  25,  26, 

9  Ver,  27;  Numb,  xxvii,  12,  13,  '  Ver,  16—18. 


192  SACRED  AND  PROFANE  BOOK  XH. 

On  the  first  day  of  the  eleventh  month  of  the  fortieth  year 
after  the  exit  out  of  Egypt,*  Moses  beo;an  to  exhort  the  Israel- 
ites, in  the  words  recorded  in  the  first  chapter  of  Deutero- 
nomy; and  he  continued  his  exhortation  daily;  until  he  had 
offered  to  their  consideration  what  we  are  told  in  that  book 
he  spake  to  them.  Then  he  called  for  Joshua,  and  exhorted 
him  to  be  of  good  courage,  in  leading  the  people,  assuring 
him  of  the  divine  assistance  and  protection.^  In  the  next 
place  he  delivered  the  book  of  the  law,  which  he  had  written, 
to  the  Priests  and  Levites,  and  unto  all  the  elders  of  Israel; 
and  commanded  them  to  have  it  read  once  in  seven  years  to 
the  people.^  Then  he  presented  himself  and  Joshua  before 
the  Lord  in  the  tabernacle  of  the  congregation;  where  the 
Lord  appeared  in  the  pillar  of  the  cloud,  and  revealed  to  Mo- 
ses, that  the  people,  after  his  death,  would  forsake  the  law, 
and  bring  many  evils  upon  themselves.^  In  order  to  warn 
them  against  so  fatal  a  perverseness,  he  was  commanded  to 
write  the  song  recorded  in  the  xxxiiid  chapter  of  Deutero- 
nomy.^ Moses  therefore  wrote  this  song,  and  taught  it  the 
children  of  Israel;^  and  he  added  it,  and  an  account  of  what 
had  passed  unto  this  time,  to  the  book  of  the  law.  When  he 
had  thus  finished  the  book  he  ordered  the  Levites  to  put  it 
in  the  side  of  the  ark  of  the  covenant,  and  there  to  keep  it.* 
^fter  this  he  blessed  the  people,^  and  then  icent  up  from 
the  plains  of  Moab  to  the  top  of  Pisgah,^  the  Lord,  having 
from  thence  given  him  a  prospect  of  the  land,  said  unto  him, 
This  is  the  land,  which  I sware  unto  Jlhraham,  unto  IsaaCy 
and  unto  Jacob,  saying,  I  loill  give  it  unto  thy  seed.  I 
have  caused  thee  to  see  it  loith  thine  eyes,  but  thou  shall 
not  go  over  thither.'^  We  do  not  read  that  Moses  came 
down  the  mount  any  more,  but  rather  died  there,  whither  he 
went  up,  as  Aaron  died  in  mount  Hor.^  He  was  a  hundred 
and  twenty  years  old  when  he  died;  but  his  eye  was  not  dim, 
nor  his  natural  force  abated.^  He  died  about  the  end  of  the 
eleventh  month,  A.  M.  2553.  The  Israelites  mourned  for 
him  one  month,  or  thirty  days,^  which  I  suppose  concluded 
the  year.  He  was  buried  in  the  valley  over  against  Beth 
Peor;*^  but  there  being  no  monument  erected  to  distinguish 


2  Deut  i,  ".  '  Chap,  xxxi,  7,  8. 

4  Ver.9— 13.  ^  Ver.  14,18. 

6  Ver.  19.  '  Ver.  22. 

8  Ver.  24,  26;  see  Prule.'iux,  Connect,  vol.  i,  b.  iii. 

9  lent,  xxxiii.  Simeon  is  not  mentioned  in  this  chapter  ;  but  we  must  not 
think  ti.at  Moses  forgot  or  omitted  to  bless  this  tribe.  The  Alexandrian  MS. 
of  tli>-  Septuagint  reads  tlie  sixtli  verse  thus  :  Let  Reuben  live  and  not  die, 
and  let  the  men  of  Simeon  be  many,  or  not  few.  The  word  Simeon  was  writ- 
ten in  this  verse  by  Moses;  but  the  copyists  have  omitted  it  by  mistake  in 
transcribing. 


Deut.  xxxiv, 


-  Ver. 


Ver.  5.  "  ^'er.  7. 

Ver.  8.  '^  Ver.  6 


BOOK  XII.  HISTORY  CONNECTED.  193 

his  grave,  the  particular  place  of  it  was  forgotten  in  a  few 
years.^ 

After  so  large  an  account  as  I  have  given  of  the  several 
transactions  in  which  Moses  was  concerned ;  the  reader  must 
greatly  anticipate  me  in  what  I  might  attempt  to  offer  upon 
his  conduct  and  character.  He  was  remarkably  eminent  in  a 
high  station  of  life;  had  a  great  share  of  power  and  authority; 
an  absolute  command  of  above  six  hundred  thousand  men  fit 
to  bear  arms,  besides  their  families.  He  was  advanced  to  this 
dignity,  not  from  any  schemes  of  his  own  politics  and  ambi- 
tion ;  not  from  any  accidental  success  of  arms;  not  from  tire 
heats  and  chances  which  commonly  give  rise  to  and  direct  a 
popular  choice;  but  by  the  special  command  and  appointment 
of  God  himself.  And  herein  (to  use  the  hint  of  Philo)^  he 
acted  in  a  post  above  any  thing  of  this  world,  was  superior  in 
character  to  the  most  exalted  of  those,  who  conduct  the  de- 
signs of  the  greatest  princes  of  the  Earth;  for  he  was  the  im- 
mediate minister  of  Almighty  God  to  a  chosen  people,  and 
behaved  himself  so  well  in  the  discharge  of  the  trust  com- 
mitted to  him,  as  to  be  honoured  with  this  testimony  from 
his  great  master,  that  he  was  faithful  to  him  that  appointed 
Jmn  in  all  his  hoiise.^  If  we  consider  the  administration  of 
Moses,  we  shall,  from  the  manner  of  it,  see  all  reason  to  con- 
clude, that  no  views  of  his  own,  but  an  absolute  submission 
and  adherence  to  the  will  of  God  revealed  to  him,  must  have 
directed  him  in  all  the  several  parts  of  it;  for  what  private 
advantage  either  to  himself  or  to  his  family,  did  he  endeavour 
to  acquire  from  all  his  labours?  He  had  two  sons,  Gershom 
and  Eliezer;  but  we  do  not  find,  that  in  forming  the  .Tewish 
polity  he  made  any  particular  provision  for  either  of  them. 
His  sons  were  of  the  children  of  Levi,  and  as  Levites  had 
their  appointed  courses  in  the  work  and  service  of  the  taber- 
nacle ;^  but  no  privilege  above  other  Levites,  the  priesthood 
being  settled  upon  the  family  of  Aaron.^  As  Moses  had  the 
supreme  direction  of  the  civil  magistracy  during  his  life,  had 


'  The  Hebrew  writers  have  had  many  fancies  concerning  the  death  and  bu. 
rial  of  Moses.  Vid.  Joseph.  Antiq.  lib.  iv,  cap.  48;  Fhilo  Jud.  de  vit.  Mosis, 
1.  iii  And  the  present  text  of  the  xxxivth  chapter  of  Deut.  ver.  6,  may  seem 
to  give  some  handle  for  them.  It  is  there  written,  inN  napM,  vejekabber  aotlio, 
i.  e  and  he  buried  him,  as  if  Moses  was  not  buried  b^  human  hands,  but  by 
God  himself,  and  in  a  place  unknown  to  the  Israelites :  but  the  LXX  render 
the  place,  Kov  i^ct-^xv  ainov,  not  he  buried  him,  but  they  buried  him.  The  an- 
cient original  Hebrew  text  was,  I  think,  undoubtedly,  i-iopM  m  the  plural 
number,  and  the  transcribers  inadvertently  dropt  the  final  letter.  The  Is- 
raelites were  the  persons  who  buried  Moses ;  and  the  remark  added  to  the  end 
of  the  verse  only  hints,  that  no  monument  having  been  erected  over  him,  the 
pluce  where  he  was  buried  was  not  certainly  known  at  the  time  M'hen  the 
xxxivth  chapter  of  Deuteronomy  was  written. 

*  A/af«|OiVT&)c  TtfAnira.i  to]/  iryifAovx  ts  ^avTOc,  xju  AvrtTijun^ng  vti'  auth'  Tif/» 
ie  apfAcmso-ct  trc^a)  ^(p:t7rwm  to  Vfic;  a.At,5fiaLv  cv.     Philo  de  Vit.  Mosis,  I.  iii.  ' 

9  N  imb  xii,  7.  2  1  Chron,  xxiii,  14. 

2  Exod.  xl,  12—15;  see  Numb,  xvi,  9,  10,  40. 

Vol.  in.  B  b 


194  SACRED  AND  PROFANE       BOOK  XII. 

he  conducted  his  measures  by  private  rules  of  his  own  wis- 
dom, is  it  probable  that  he  would  have  given  away  at  his 
death  the  command  of  the  people,  both  from  his  own  and 
from  his  brother's  family,  into  another  tribe,  to  Joshua  the 
son  of  Nun  of  the  tribe  of  Ephraim?^  Where  are  such  in- 
stances of  resignation  to  be  found  in  the  world?  Indeed 
when  Alexander  the  Great  was  dying,  and  was  solicited  to 
name  his  successor,  he  is  said  to  have  made  no  provision  for 
any  of  his  own  family;  but  declared  it  to  be  his  will,  that 
the  most  worthy  should  have  his  kingdom.''  I  cannot  but 
question  what  is  thus  reported :  for  Plutarch.  Avho  has  been 
very  exact  in  collecting  the  circumstances  of  Alexander's 
death,  informs  us,  that  he  was  speechless  before  the  persons 
came  to  him,  to  whom,  according  to  others,  he  made  this  dis- 
position;* although,  if  he  did  not  make  it,  it  is  obvious  that 
not  a  disengagement  of  his  private  affections  to  his  own  fa- 
mily, but  a  true  sense  of  the  temper  of  his  army,  and  the 
state  of  his  affairs,  might  lead  him  to  it.  He  knew  his  exten- 
sive empire  was  not  so  well  established,  as  to  be  likely  to  de- 
scend to  his  heirs;  but  that  at  his  death  the  generals,  who  had 
commanded  in  his  armies,  and  had  a  place  in  his  councils, 
would  form  parties,  and  divide  his  acquisitions,^  and  he  had 
no  time  to  settle  the  claims  of  their  several  pretensions,  but 
only  wish  them  all  well,  and  the  best  success  to  the  most  de- 
serving. But  Moses's  affairs  were  in  another  situation.  If 
the  will  of  God  had  not  been  his  direction,  he  might  have 
appointed  himself  a  successor,  and  the  person  recommended 
by  his  nomination,  would,  humanly  speaking,  have  been  as 
unanimously  received  and  submitted  to  by  the  people  as  Jo- 
shua himself. 

There  are  many  particulars,  which  to  a  thinking  person 
must  abundantly  prove  that  Moses's  conduct  in  leading  the 
Israelites  had  been  directed  by  an  immediate  revelation.  It 
is  not  likely,  that  he  should  of  his  own  head,  when  he  left 
Egypt,  have  made  the  march,  which  he  led  the  i)eople  to  the 
Red  Sea;^  much  less  would  he,  without  a  divine  command, 
have  had  a  thought  of  attempting  for  forty  years  together  such 
dangers  and  difficulties  as  the  wilderness  exposed  him  to,  and 
out  of  which  he  could  foresee  no  escape,  but  by  miraculous  de- 
liverances. The  march  of  Alexander  the  Great,  over  the 
sands  of  Libya  to  the  temple  of  Jupiter  Ammon,  has  been  va- 
riously censured  as  a  very**  wild  expedition ;  though  certainly 

3  Numb,  xiii,  8  ;  Deut.  xxxi, 

*  Quint.  Curtii  Hist.  1.  x;  Arrian  de  Expedit.  Alexand.  1.  vii ;  Diodor.  Sic 
Hist.  I.  xvii. 

B  Vid.  Plutarcli.  in  Vit.  Alexand.  ad  fin. 

«  Curtius  says,  Quxicatibus  cui  reliiiqueret  rcgnum,  respondit,  ei  qui  esset 
optimus  :  caeleruin  pra:videre  jam,  ob  id  certamen,  magnos  turn  bres  ludos  pa- 
rari  sibi.  Hist.  1.  x,  c.  5;  vid.  Arnan.  dc  Expedit.  Alex.  lib.  vii;  Uiodor.  Sic. 
lib.  xvii,  c.  117. 

">  See  vol.  ii,  book  ix,  *  See  Prideaux,  Connect,  part  i,  book  vi. 


BOOK  XII.  HISTORY  CONNECTED.  195 

such  a  march,  attempted  and  performed  with  the  greatest  dis- 
patch, could  be  only  one  single  trial  at  most,  of  what  Moses 
habituated  the  Israelites  to  for  forty  years  together.  Besides, 
Alexander  had  an  aim  visibly  enough,  and  political,^  to  tempt 
him  to  his  undertaking;  but  if  we  set  aside  the  divine  com- 
mand, Moses  could  have  no  pretence  for  harassing  and  endan- 
gering his  people  with  such  perpetual  extremities.  We  find 
many  of  the  princes  of  the  congregation  thought  Moses's  con- 
duct so  palpably  contradictory  to  all  ruW  of  human  prudence, 
that  they  remonstrated  it  to  be  the  greatest  blindness  for  the 
people  to  be  any  farther  led  on  by  him.^ 

It  may  perhaps  be  suggested,  that  Moses's  detaining  the 
people  so  long  in  the  wilderness,  might  be  to  discipline  them, 
and  inure  them  to  hardshijjs ;  to  give  them  various  experience, 
that  dangers  and  difficulties  which  at  first  sight  seem  insupe- 
rable, may  by  patience  and  good  conduct  be  borne  and  con- 
quered; and  that  he  marched  the  Israelites  here  no  longer, 
than  until  he  had  formed  them  to  a  competent  skill  and  cou- 
rage for  the  conquests  of  Canaan:  that  the  wilderness  was  a 
place  well  suited  for  his  thus  exercising  his  army,  affording 
him  a  secure  retreat  from  the  attacks  of  all  nations,  and  oppor- 
tunities to  try  the  temper  and  courage  of  the  Israelites  daily 
with  the  appearances  of  various  dangers,  into  which  he  might 
lead  them  as  far  as  he  thought  proper,  and  retire  whenever  he 
thought  it  expedient  to  attempt  no  farther.  But  what  may  be 
thus  intimated,  cannot  possibly  be  allowed ;  unless  it  can  be 
proved,  that  the  Israelites  could  have  subsisted  in  those  de- 
sarts,  if  they  had  not  had  the  miraculous  supply,  which  God 
was  pleased  to  give  them  from  Heaven.^  The  camp  which 
Moses  led  was,  men,  women,  and  children,  a  body  of  about 
two  or  three  millions  of  people ;  and  a  country  both  of  large 
extent  and  great  plenty,  must,  at  first  sight,  appear  necessary 
to  bear  and  to  maintain  them.  But  the  wilderness  was  a  land 
of  drought  and  of  the  shadow  of  death;  a  land,  where  a 
parched  turf,  and  withered  shrubs,  must,  to  any  one  who 
should  enter  it,  give  a  perpetual  picture  of  decay  and  desola- 
tion. It  was  a  land,  to  use  the  words  of  the  Prophet,  which 
no  man  passed  through,  aiid  where  no  tnan  dwelt. ^  And 
if  God  had  not  directed,  it  is  not  to  be  conceived  that  Moses 
could  have  projected  to  sustain  and  keep  together  such  a 
host  as  he  led  in  so  unpromising  a  country.  Besides,  if  what 
is  above  offered  was  the  reason  of  the  encampments  in  the 
wilderness,  how  shall  we  account  for  Moses  not  attempting  to 


9  Illud  pene  risu  (lignum  fuit,  quod  Hermolaus  postulabat  me  (says  Alex, 
ander)  ut  aversarer  Jovem,  cujus  oraculo  cogiioscor.  An  etiam  quid  Dii  re- 
spondeant  in  mea  postate  est  ?  Obtulit  nomen  filii  mihi,  recipere  ipsis  rebus 
quas  agimus  non  alienum  fuit :  utinam  Indi  quoque  me  Deum  esse  credant: 
fama  enim  bella  constant,  et  sjepe  quod  falso  creditum  est,  veri  vicem  obtinuit. 
Curtius,  lib.  viii,  c.  8. 

*  Numb,  xvi,  14.  2  Exod,  xvi.  ^  Jer.  ii,  6, 


196  SAGRED  AND  PROFANE       BOOK  XII. 

enter  Canaan,  when  he  had  as  promising  an  opportunity,  to  all 
human  appearance,  as  he  could  ever  hope  for?  When  the 
spies  returned  from  searching  the  land,'*  it  was  the  opinion  of 
some  that  the  Israelites  were  able  to  conquer  it,  if  they  would 
march  with  courage  and  resolution  to  attack  it;*  others  indeed 
were  of  another  mind,  and  were  for  returning  back  to  Egypt 
again. ^  There  was  great  heat  and  debate  in  the  camp  upon 
this  subject-/  but  at  last,  after  Moses  had  at  large  remonstrated 
to  them,  they  were  all  willing  to  make  the  attempt;  nay,  and 
so  resolutely  bent  upon  it,  that  all  he  could  say  against  it 
could  not  prevent  their  marching.*  And  now,  would  not  one 
think  the  camp  spirited  up  to  a  temper,  such  as  a  wise  general 
would  have  wished  for,  and  made  use  of?  But  we  find  Mo- 
ses acted  a  part  directly  contrary  to  what  in  human  prudence 
might  have  been  expected  from  him.  He  assured  the  people, 
that  no  attempt  they  should  now  make  would  be  crowned 
with  success;  that  forty  years  must  pass  before  they  should 
be  able  to  enter  the  land.''  Will  it  be  here  said,  that  probably 
Moses  judged  very  wisely  of  his  army;  that  he  knew  well 
that  the  courage  they  pretended  to  was  no  more  than  a  sud- 
den heat;  and  that  it  would  not  support  him  through  the  war 
which  was  before  him ;  and  that  many  years  discipline  was 
really  necessary  to  form  them  for  greater  things,  than  they 
were  yet  capable  of,  before  he  could  hope  to  reduce  by  them 
so  many  and  such  warlike  nations  as  possessed  Canaan;  and 
that  therefore  he  assigned  them  forty  years  to  fit  them  for  it? 
But  surely  if  this  had  been  his  purpose,  a  shorter  respite 
might  have  answered  his  intentions;  and  above  all  things,  he 
would  never  have  denounced,  that  all  the  men  of  war,  who 
were  then  the  strength  and  flower  of  the  camp,  must  be 
brought  down  to  their  graves  before  he  could  hope  to  be  able 
to  attempt  what  was  the  design  of  the  expedition.  Yet  Mo- 
ses, without  any  reserve,  now  declared  this  to  them,  ^s 
truly  as  I  live,  saith  the  Lord,  your  carcases  shall  fall 
ill  this  loilderncss ;  and  all  that  were  numbered  of  you, 
according  to  your  lohole  number,  from  ttuenty  years  old 
and  upwards — doitbtless  you  shall  not  come  into  the  land 
— your  carcases,  they  shall  fall  in  this  ivilderness.^  Here 
now  is  a  view  of  things  for  a  wise  general  to  pretend  to  de- 
clare to  his  whole  army :  to  assure  almost  every  man  amongst 
them,  capable  of  bearing  arms,  that  he  had  now  no  hope  of 
bringing  them  to  any  good  end  of  all  their  labours;  but  that 
the  only  thing  he  could  pretend  to  for  them,  was  to  carry 
them  about  for  forty  years  together,  from  difficulty  to  diffi- 
culty, and  bury  them  in  the  desart  God  indeed  might  ap- 
point them  this  punishment  for  their  disobedience;-  and  Mo- 


*  Numb,  xiil,  25.  ^  Ver.  30.  6  Ver.  31 ;  xlv,  4. 

■  Ver.  6— 10.  »  Ver.  41,  44.  »  Ver.  33. 

>  Ver.  28,  29,  30,  32.  2  Ibid. 


BOOK  XII.  HISTORY  CONNECTED.  197 

ses,  in  confidence  of  an  Almighty  support,  might  securely 
pronounce  their  doom  to  them,  and  the  people,  convinced  that 
it  was  God's  appointment,  might  submit  to  it;  but  unless  we 
allow  all  this,  what  general  would  have  shocked  a  whole 
army  in  this  manner,  or  have  suffered  any  attempt  to  have 
such  impressions  made  upon  them?  For  what  could  such  a 
view  of  things  naturally  produce,  but  numerous  tumults,  muti- 
nies, and  a  total  defection  ? 

Our  modern  deists  are  indeed  ready  to  allow  Moses  the 
character  of  a  great  and  wise  man ;  to  suppose  him  far  supe- 
rior in  all  points  of  science  to  any  of,  or  to  all  the  people  unr 
der  his  direction;  and  they  suppose  that  he  had  given  laws  to 
the  Israelites,  and  had  formed  their  commonwealth  with  great 
art  and  address;  but  had  had  no  more  divine  assistance  to- 
wards it,  than  Minos,  Numa,  Lycurgus,  or  other  famous  le- 
gislators of  the  heathen  world.  All  these  were  as  highly 
thought  of  by  their  followers  as  Moses  by  his  Israelites;^  and 
they  all  pretended  to  have  been  favoured  with  revelations 
from  Heaven,  in  order  to  create  a  reverence  of  their  establish- 
ments among  their  people ;  and  some  of  them  are  recorded 
to  have  been  supported  with  miracles  in  their  undertakings. 
They  were  wise  and  learned  men,  and  gave  every  appearance 
an  artful  turn,  and  made  the  ordinary  course  of  nature  seem 
full  of  miracles  to  persons  of  inferior  understandings,  for  car- 
rying forward  their  purposes  among  them.  Quintus  Curtius 
informs  us,  that  Alexander  the  Great  erected  over  his  pavilion 
an  artificial  signal,  t'o  give  notice  for  a  decampment  of  his 
army;  that  it  was  contrived  of  such  materials,  as  to  be  con- 
spicuous in  the  day-time  by  a  great  smoke  issuing  from  it, 
and  in  the  night-time  it  appeared  to  be  on  fire."*  A  modern 
writer  insinuates  that  the  pillar  of  the  cloud  and  of  fire,  which 
directed  the  marches  of  the  Israelites/  was  a  contrivance  of 
Moses  of  a  like  nature.  Others  have  intimated,  that  it  was 
no  greater  miracle  than  than  the  pillar  of  light  which  con- 

3  Tlitireu  ^i.ai  TTfrnTov  aypiVTOtt  vofAOK  y(ji»<7cts-^eit  to.  ttxh^h  x-tt  0ni]/  tov  Mviuw, 

eU/J'/ia.    K3t«    T»    ■i'V^n    l^i'y",    J'*'     T*    ^ta    KCtVUTHTOV    TOIV    /UVUf^OViUOfJL&im'    'T^'.a-rOltl^ny^t 

iTe  seuTai  tov  'EpfAttv  iiSameiAt  tsts?,  ik  [/.ryAKm  aryoLirav  anim  i(roy.im'  ncc^-uTrip 
Vixp'  EaAxo-/  ■ruiia-cci  pacr/v  iv  /uiy  th  Kpurn  Mtvax,  Trapx  S't  \:tKiiatfxovioK  AuKvpyov' 
TO*  fA-iv  Trapx  Aiof,  tov  Je  ■xap'  AmhKaivoi  ?»(ravTst  Tariff  iiknifiV'i.f  Kat  Trap  fripoic 
Jf  :rXUoa-lv  i^KXi  TrapuSi^orat  TaTO  to  ytvo;  t«?  fcr/vc/ac  inrap'^ai.  x.xt  ^okkoiv  aya^ov 
aniov  yivf<r^cti  to/c  Trtia-^ua-f  Trxpx  y.':V  yap  toi;  Api/uarxoi;  Zot-S-paurnv  i^opna-i  tov 
aya^ov  A'Ufji.oia.  Trpio-^oDima-Bxt  t>s;  ya/iAvc  auTie  Movxt.  Trxpt  iSi  to/;  ovo/ma^o/uivoic 
TtrxK  Zx/uox^lv  aa-xuTOK  tjiv  mmv  Kr/atv,  7ra^*  Si  ret;  IvSxim  Macr«v  tov  lxa> 
tTtKtyjs/j.ivov  S-40V"  UTi  d-au,uxg-iiv  xa/  ■S'«av  oAaic  moiav  nvxi  uptviVTa;  thv  /JiiKKvrav 
ufi>ot<ruv  xvbpanraiv  ta»6oc,  uti  icat  Trpo;  tuv  unipo-)(j\v  xm  SuvJfji.iv  tqiv  tupitv  Kiyofxivm 
Tsc  V0|«tic  a.^oSKt\xvTdi.  TOV  oyKov,  /unKhov  uTrxx-nTia^Ai  SidKxSovTXi .  Diodor.  Sic. 
lib.  1,  p.  59 

4  Tuba,  cum  castra  movere  vellet,  signum  dabat :  cujus  sonus  plerumque 
tumultuaiitium  fremitu  exoriente  baud  satis  exaudiebatur.  Ergo  perticam, 
quje  undique  conspici  posset,  supra  prxtonum  statuit  ex  qua  signum  einine- 
bat  pariter  omnibus  conspicuum.  Observabatur  ignis  noctu,  fumus  interdiu. 
— Quint.  Curt.  lib.  v,  c.  2. 

»  Rxod.  xl,  38. 


198  SACRED  AND  PROFANE       BOOK  XII. 

ducted  Thrasybulus  and  his  followers  from  Phyla.^    But  in 
answer  hereto  let  us  consider, 

I.  That  if  Moses  has  recorded  nothing  but  what  was  real 
fact,  it  must  be  undeniably  evident,  that  the  hand  of  God  was 
most  miraculously  employed  in  leading  the  Israelites  out  of 
Egypt,  in  giving  their  law,  in  conducting  them  through  the 
wilderness,  and  in  bringing  them  into  Canaan.  If  the  mira- 
cles were  wrought  in  the  land  of  Egypt,  and  the  judgments 
executed  upon  Pharaoh  and  his  people,  as  Moses  has  related:^ 
if  the  Red  Sea  was  really  divided  before  the  Israelites,  and 
Pharaoh  and  his  host  drowned  in  it,  as  Moses  has  recorded  :* 
if  a  miraculous  supply  of  food  was  given  daily  to  the  Israelites 
in  the  wilderness  for  forty  years  together:^  if  God  did  indeed 
speak  to  them  in  an  audible  voice  from  Heaven:*  if  their  laws 
were  given  as  Moses  informs  us:^  if  their  tabernacle  was  di- 
rected, and  when  finished,  if  a  cloud  covered  the  tent,  and  the 
glory  of  the  Lord  filled  the  tabernacle  and  rested  upon  it  in  a 
cloud  by  day,  and  in  fire  by  night  :^  if  this  cloud  removed 
visibly  to  conduct  their  journeyings:''  if  the  many  oppositions 
of  the  people  were  miraculously  punished  in  the  several  man- 
ners related  to  us,*  and  the  miracles  which  are  recorded  were 
wrought  to  testify  the  divine  appointments  of  the  institutions 
enjoined,  when  the  people  would  have  I'aried  from  them  :*  if  a 
prophet  even  of  another  nation,  corrupt  in  the  inclination  of 
his  heart,  and  tempted  by  great  offers'  to  speak  evil  of  this 
people,  was  by  very  astonishing  miracles  prevented  from  de- 
claring any  thing  about  them  diiferent  from  what  Moses  had 
represented  to  be  the  purpose  of  God  towards  them  -J  if  all 
these,  and  other  things  of  a  like  nature,  which  might  be  enu- 
merated, were  really  and  trul}'  done,  as  Moses  has  related; 
well  might  he  call  Heaven  and  Earth  to  witness  for  him  f 
well  might  he  observe,  that  no  such  things  had  ever  been 
done  for  any  nation  f  and  we  who  read  them  must  conclude, 
that  the  power  of  God  did  indeed  miraculously  interest  itself 
in  appointing  the  law  and  polity  of  this  people,  and  in  con- 
ducting them  to  their  settlement  in  the  promised  land. 

II.  That  the  facts  recorded  by  Moses  were  really  done  as 
he  relates  them,  must  be  allowed  by  any  one  who  considers, 
that  Moses  wrote  his  books  in  the  very  age  in  which  the 
things  he  records  were  done,  to  be  read  by  the  very  pcrsons^ 

6  AXXa  nm  QptTvCitXte  thc  (KXirsvrx;  arro  'tuKm  Kuru-^^yoyn  >mi  /?nKof^wa>  Xaiuv, 
5-uXcc  oS'iiyai  ynvrdLi  iia.  'xm  arflQav  iwtC  tu  QfctavQaKm  vuKrup,  uviKMis  km 
Svtry(ii/uffi^  TK  KaTarx/waTOc  yty  oycTot,  Tuf  utpotro  Trpcyiyv/Aivov,  iTrtp  awT»f  ■x'rrTat^Oii 
Ttprtu-^xi,  n-dLTx  Tuv  tAcuwx^*^  fJsAwa',  «y6ac-  m  c  Tin  *a><r?5/)s  haifAOt  t^t,  Clem. 
Alexan.  Stroniat.  lib.  i,  c.  24,  p.  418.    Edit.  Oson. 

7  Exod.  vii,  viii,  ix,  x,  xi,  xii.  »  Chap.  xiv. 

9  Chap,  xvi,  35.  '  Chap.xix,xx;  Deut.  iv,  12,33,36. 

2  Exod.  ubi  sup.;  Deut.  v,  &,c.  ^  Exod.  xxxv;  xl,  34. 

*  Ver.  38.  '  Numb.xi,xii,xiv,xvi,xxi,xxv,&ic. 

6  Lcvit.  x;  Numb,  xvi,  xvii,  &c.  "^  Chap,  xxiii,  xxiv. 

^  Deut.  XXX,  19.  'J  Chap,  iv,  33,  34. 


BOOK  XII.  HISTORY  CONNECTED.  199 

who  had  seen  and  known  the  facts  to  be  true,  which  are  re- 
corded by  him;  that  they  might  testify  and  transmit  their 
sense  of  the  truth  of  them  to  their  posterity.  Now  this  is  a 
material  circumstance,  in  which  the  reports  we  have  of  the 
heathen  miracles  are  greatly  deficient.  Clemens  Alexan- 
drinus  relates,  that  Thrasybulus  led  his  company  under  the 
guidance  of  a  pillar  of  light  in  the  Heavens;^  but  Clemens 
Alexandrinus  lived  above  six  hundred  years  after  the  time  of 
this  supposed  fact.  Upon  what  authority  he  related  it  we 
are  not  told  ;  but  we  find  no  such  prodigy  recorded  in  the  best 
heathen  writers,  who,  had  it  been  fact,  would  surely  have 
made  mention  of  it.  Xenophon,^  Diodorus  Siculus,^  Corne- 
lius Nepos,"*  have  related  this  expedition  of  Thrasybulus  ;  but 
none  of  them  mention  any  such  miracle  assistant  to  him;  so 
that  we  have  all  reason  to  think  there  was  none  such,  but  that 
Clemens  Alexandrinus  was  imposed  upon  in  the  account  he 
received  of  it.  And  this  is  generally  true  of  the  miracles  re- 
ported in  heathen  history :  subsequent  writers,  after  large  in- 
tervals of  time,  tell  us  things  said  to  have  been  done,  but 
without  sufficient  vouchers  to  attest  the  facts  related  by  them. 
Whereas  Moses  wrote  of  the  things  in  which  himself  had 
been  the  chief  agent;  and  required  his  books  to  be  repeatedly 
read,  and  considered  over  and  over*  by  the  very  persons  who 
had  seen  and  known  the  truth  of  what  he  wrote  as  clearly 
and  fully  as  himself;  in  order  to  have  the  facts  recorded  by 
him  go  down  and  attested  to  be  true  to  succeeding  genera- 
tions. Therefore  Moses  could  not  falsify  the  facts  related  by 
him,  unless  the  generation  he  lived  in  concurred  with  him  in 
a  design  to  impose  upon  their  descendants  in  all  these  matters; 
or  were  so  over-reached  and  deceived  by  his  superior  skill 
and  management,  as  to  be  made  believe  that  they  had  seen 
and  lived  in  a  most  surprising  scene  of  things,  which,  all  the 
time,  were  really  not  done  in  the  manner  they  were  taught 
to  conceive  and  imagine.     But, 

III.  If  we  consider  the  nature  and  manner  of  the  miracles, 
which  bear  testimony  to  Moses's  administration,  it  is  impos- 
sible to  conceive  that  the  Israelites  were  deceived  in  them. 
They  could  never  have  been  led  on,  and  for  so  long  a  time, 
in  an  imaginary  belief  of  such  things  as  Moses  had  recorded,  if 
either  the  things  were  not  done,  or  not  done  as  he  has  related 
them.  As  to  the  signs  and  prodigies  which  the  heathen  wri- 
ters mention,  to  give  a  sanction  to  the  foundation  of  their 
kingdoms,  we  may  generally  see,  that  these  very  writers,  who 
report  them,  did  not  believe  them  f  and  that  they  were  known 
artifices  of  their  great  legislators,  calculated  only  to  have 
weight  upon  the  populace ;  but  in  nowise  supported  against 

1  Stromat.  lib.  i.  2  vid.  Histor.  Grxc.  lib.  ii. 

3  Diodor.  Histor.  lib.  xiv.  i  Cornel.  Nep.  in  V  it.  Thrasybuli. 

*  Deut.  xxxi,  10.  s  Vid.  Liv.  Hist.  Pracfat. 


200  SACRED  AND  PROFANE       BOOK  XII. 

the  objections  which  a  thinking  person  might  easily  find  to 
offer  to  them.  When  Romulus  died,  the  Roman  historians 
tell  us,  that  he  was  taken  up  into  Heaven  ;^  but  we  do  not  find 
that  they  ever  had  such  proofs  of  his  assumption,  as  to  pre- 
vent a  suspicion  of  his  being  murdered,  in  the  age  when  his 
death  happened ;  or  to  cause  after-ages  to  give  full  credit  to 
what  they  attempted  to  have  believed  about  it.^  In  like  man- 
ner, when  he  was  created  king,  we  are  told  that  a  divine  ap* 
probation,  discovering  itself  by  an  auspicious  lightning,  at- 
tended his  inauguration  f  and  that  it  was  an  institution  ap- 
pointed to  be  for  ever  observed  among  the  Romans,  that  no 
person  should  be  admitted  to  command  the  people,  unless  the 
gods  by  such  sign  from  Heaven  should  confirm  the  election:^ 
But  Dionysius  of  Halicarnassus  is,  I  think,  the  only  writer, 
who  reports  that  the  Roman  magistracies  have  had  the  coun- 
tenance of  such  a  confirmation;  and  he  confesses  that  their 
elections  in  his  time  had  fallen  a  great  deal  short  of  it.^  For 
he  telJs  us,  that  at  their  elections  a  public  augur  was  to  declare 
the  expected  lightning  to  have  happened,  whether  any  ap- 
pearance of  it  had  been  seen  or  not;^  Plutarch  seems  to  have 
thought,  that  all  that  was  related  about  these  lightnings'*  had 
been  fabulous.  And  if  we  consider  how  uncertain  it  is 
whether  Dionysius  had  any  good  vouchers  to  support  what 
he  writes  to  have  been  the  facts  in  those  times,^  we  shall  have 
just  reason  to  suppose,  that  the  most  early  elections  of  the  Ro- 
man magistrates  had  no  more  a  divine  sanction,  than  the  more 
modern;  and  that  what  Dionysius  relates  about  them  was  one 
of  those  fictions,  by  which  the  heathens  endeavoured  to  give 
a  lustre  to  their  ancient  institutions.^  In  like  manner  when 
Numa  was  to  form  the  religion  of  the  Romans,  he  affected  u 
rural  and  retired  life,  was  much  alone,  and  pretended  to  have 
many  conversations  with  a  deity,  who  instructed  him  in  his 
institutions  f  but  it  is  obvious,  that  he  gave  his  people  no 


'  Liv.  lib.  i,  c.  16 ;  Dionys.  Halic.  Antiq.  Rom.  lib.  ii,  c.  56 ;  Plutarch,  in 
Romul. 

8  Fuisse  credo  turn  quoque  aliquos,  qui  discerptum  regem  patrum  manibus 
taciti  ar.mieient:  manavit  enim  haec  quoque  sed  perobscura  fama.  Liv.  ubi 
sup.     Uionys  Halicur  &  Piutarcb.  in  Romul.  in  loo.  supra  citat. 

9  Dionys.  Halicar.  lib.  ii,c  5.  '   Halicar  lib.  ii,  c.  6. 

2     n«T«t/Tai    S'    iV     TOl;    ;c«6'     tlfXat  ;^0V0«'       TTMV     om     tSKOSi     TK    ItUTH    KUTttTlU,     tik 

tc-ia;   TuvTn;  itiK*  yivo/xim.     Id.  ibid. 

'  Tav  Jf  5r«/)cvTttv  T/vec  cp<9io-xo;rav  /uutBov  m  t«  Siifxc<rt\t  fifcfAivm,  ttg-fniriiv 
alVToi;    fxiivuuv   ipatTiv   ix.  Tcm   apiTipatv  my   a   ytvofufvuy.     Id.   ibid 

*  TauT*  jMsv  nv  TO.  /uvbaJyi  nai  yixcui  t»v  t^v  tots  avS/ia'raiv  iTtlfuKXimi 
S'ia(ti<riv   tsfK    TO  Sitov,  «»    0    t^ia-fjLOi   aurci;   (viTTomo'iy.     Plut.  in  Numa,  p.  70. 

5  V.d.  Liv.  H;si.  lib,  vi,  c.  1. 

6  Datiir  lixc  venia  antiquitati,  ut  miscendo  bumana  dlvinis,  prlmordia 
urbium  augustiora  facial.     Liv   PrxF.  ad.  Hist.  lib.  i. 

7  Vid.  IMutarcli.  in  Numa,  p.  61,  62.  Omnium  primum  rem  ad  multitudi- 
nem  imperitam,  et  illis  seculi.s  cfficacissimain,  deorum  metum  injicicndum 
ratiis  est :  qui  quum  desrendere  ad  animos  sine  aliquo  commenio  miraculi 
non  posset,  siniulat  sibi  cum  l)ea  Egeria  congressus  nocturnos  esse,  ejus  se 
monitu,  quae  acccptissima  Diis  essent  sacra  instituere.    Liv.  Hist,  1.  i,  c.  19. 


BOOK  XII.  HISTORY  CONNECTED.  201 

Other  evidence  of  his  having  been  assisted  by  a  divine  pre- 
sence, than  the  testimony  of  his  own  saying  it^  And  in  this 
way  we  may  observe  of  the  Cretan  Minos,  of  the  Lycurgus  of 
the  Lacedaemonians,  of  the  Arimaspian  Zathraustes,  and  of 
the  Getan  Zamolxis,  compared  with  Moses  by  Diodorus.^ 
They  were  all  said  to  have  the  will  of  their  gods  revealed  to 
them;  but  there  is  so  little  appearance  of  proof  of  what  is 
thus  said,  that  Plutarch's  observation  concerning  them  must 
be  allowed  to  be  true  ;^  they  pretended  to  revelations,  in  or- 
der to  be  better  able  to  manage  their  people,  though  in  truth 
no  revelations  had  been  made  to  them.  But  we  cannot  say 
thus  of  Moses;  for  Moses  did  not,  after  their  manner,  pretend 
to  his  Jews,  as  Diodorus  expresses  it,^  that  the  god  Jao  gave 
him  his  laws  ;  but  he  made  an  open  appeal  to  the  senses  of  all 
the  thousands  of  them,  whether  they  did  not  all  abundantly 
know  it  to  be  so  as  well  as  he.  The  Lord  our  God,  said  he, 
onade  a  covenant  with  us  in  Horeb.  The  Lord  made  not 
this  covenant  loith  our  fathers,  but  with  us,  even  us,  who 
are  all  of  us  here  alive  this  day.  The  Lord  talked  with 
you  face  to  face  in  the  mount  out  of  the  midst  of  the  fire? 
If  Moses  had  only  told  his  Israelites,  that  their  God  had  ap- 
peared to  him  in  private,  and  given  him  the  laws  which  he 
recommended  to  them ;  or  if  he  had  only  related  to  them  a 
confused  account  of  some  signs  and  prodigies  known  only  to 
himself,  and  believed  by  them  upon  his  reporting  them; 
Moses  and  the  heathen  legislators  might  indeed  be  compared 
to  one  another;  but  the  circumstances  of  Moses's  adminis- 
tration are  of  another  sort.  And  as  they  are  so,  to  say,  that 
Moses  could  make  a  camp  of  above  six  hundred  thousand 
grown-up  men,  besides  the  women  and  children,  believe  they 
heard  the  voice  of  God  out  of  the  midst  of  the  fire,'*  if  they 
did  not  hear  it;  that  he  could,  day  after  day,  and  week  after 
week,  for  about  forty  years  together,  make  them  all  believe 
that  he  gave  them  bread  from  Heaven,  calling  the  heads  of 
all  their  families  every  day  to  such  a  particular  method  of 
gathering  it,  as  must  make  them  all  intimately  acquainted  with 
all  the  circumstances  of  it;^  if  all  this  time  he  did  not  really 
give  them  bread  from  Heaven,  but  only  pretended  it:  to  say, 
that  he  could  in  like  manner,  not  once  or  twice  upon  an  acci- 
dent, but  for  the  long  space  of  time  above  mentioned,  for  near 
forty   years  together,  upon  every  movement  of  the  camp, 


8  Vid.  I'lut.  Liv.  Dionys.  Halicarn.  ubi  sup. 

9  Diodor.  Sic.  Hist   lib.  i,  c  94. 

1  Oi/iTs  y^f  uTifcc  Kayo;  (^ii  ti  piVKov,  cv  vtpt  Auimpyu  xat/  Na//a  xa/  rouruv 
!tXKmv  avJjsav  \iyvtrtv,  oic  SutrK^BacTo.  x«t  J'ug-itpig-*  7rMQ>i  ^Ufn/uivot.  xa/  jurya^a; 
sy/pspoVTSc  Ta/c  TroXtnuu;  tcaivciTO/uts^;  irpooriTroixiTavTa  tjiv  uxo  flea  Ja^av,  atUTO/c 
ixuvoi;   TTpc;  ovi  itr^nfA^Til^o^no  rairnpiav  vtrmv.     Plut.  in  Num.  p    62. 

2  n^oirxo/xTacrSa/  tkc  vo/mm  eivru)  Moiau  Trupn  TO/c  l^icMi;  Muriiy  tdv  Jact 
■^rrixxKiif^ivov  ()io>}.     Diodor,  Sic.  ubi  sup. 

•5  Deut.  V,  2— 4.  *  Chap,  iv,  11—16.  s  See  Exod.  xvJ. 

Vol.  in.  C  c 


^02  SACRED  AND  PROFANE       BOOK  XII. 

make  the  whole  people  believe  they  saw  a  miraculous  pillar 
of  light  directing;  their  marches,  or  abiding  in  a  cloud  of  glory 
upon  their  tabernacle,  when  they  were  not  to  journey ;''  if  all 
the  while  no  such  thing  was  real,  and  Moses  had  only  made 
some  artificial  beacon,  of  which  the  Israelites  did  not  know 
the  contrivance  and  composition.'  To  say  these  and  other 
things  of  a  like  nature,  in  order  to  insinuate  that  the  miracles, 
which  attended  the  Israelites  in  the  wilderness,  were  like  the 
heathen  wonders,  pretended  only  but  not  real,  must  be  to  say 
the  most  incredible  things  in  the  world.  If  Moses  had  been 
an  impostor,  he  would  never  have  attempted  such  miracles, 
nor  have  been  so  hard}'  as  to  venture  his  artifices  in  so  open 
a  light,  and  to  daily  examination,  for  so  many  years  together, 
of  so  many  hundreds  of  thousands  of  people;  or  if  he  could 
have  been  so  romantic  as  to  hazard  the  exposing  them  to  so 
many,  such  unlimited  and  repeated  trials,  he  must  have  been 
but  a  weak  and  rash  man,  and  consequently  come  off  many 
times  detected  and  defeated;  unless  we  can  think  that  his  Is- 
raelites had  been  a  camp  of  the  most  careless  and  inconside- 
rate people,  blindly  devoted  to  receive  implicitly  whatever 
he  told  them  they  saw,  without  opening  their  eyes,  or  making 
any  trial,  whether  the  things  he  told  them  were  so  or  not. 
But  this  cannot  be  pretended,  for, 

IV.  If  we  look  into  the  conduct  of  the  Israelites,  where  do 
we  find  them  disposed  to  any  implicit  belief  of  Moses?  Did 
they  not  rather  examine  every  thing  he  ottered  in  the  strictest 
manner;  and  endeavour  indefatigably  to  oppose  him  in  every 
part  of  his  administration?  They  were  but  three  days  passed 
the  Red  Sea,  before  they  murmured  against  him  at  Marah;^ 
and  though  they  were  here  miraculously  relieved  by  him,* 
yet  at  Elim  they  appear  to  have  had  but  little  expectation, 
that  he  could  lead  them  any  farther.^  When  the  manna  was 
given,  and  the  particular  injunctions  communicated  for  the 
method  of  gathering  it;  what  disposition  do  we  find  in  the 
people,  either  to  believe  what  Moses  had  told  them,  or  obey 
what  he  had  directed?  They  hearkened  not  unto  Moses,  but 
left  of  the  manna  until  the  morning,  and  it  bred  ivorms 
and  stank?  And  on  the  seventh  day,  some  of  the  people 
went  out  to  gather  majina,  but  they  found  none.^     At  Re- 

6  Exod.  xl,  34-38. 

'  A  beucoii  of  tills  sort  is  said  to  have  been  made  and  set  up  over  the  royal 
tent  in  Alexander's  army.  Quint.  Curtius  in  loc.  supra  citat  And  as  Alex- 
ander's forces  -were  not  at  most  above  thirty-five  thousand  (See  I'ndeaux, 
Connect,  part  i,  b.  vii,)  it  is  conceivable,  that  sucli  a  light  nnght  be  a  useful 
signal  to  a  camp  of  that  bigness;  but  the  camp  of  the  Uraeliles  consisted  of 
many  hundreds  of  thousands  of  jieople,  and  must  have  extended  itself  over 
many  miles  of  the  coiuitry.  whenever  they  pitched  it ;  and  what  one  artificial 
light  could  have  been  either  formed  or  managed,  consisting  of  a  botly  of  fire  of 
a  size  sufficient  to  be  seen  and  recognized  in  every  quarter  of  so  great  a  nation 
of  peopie  ? 

«  Exod.  XV,  22,  24.  ^  Ver.  25.  i  Chap,  xvi,  3. 

'  Ver.  20.  »  Ver.  27. 


BOOK  XII.  HISTORY  CONNECTED.  203 

phidim,  when  they  wanted  water,  they  were  ready  to  stone 
him  ;*  and  though  at  Sinai  the  wonders,  which  were  seen  and 
heard  there,  seemed  at  first  to  have  made  a  deep  impression, 
yet  it  was  not  long  before  they  were  led  away  by  their  own 
imaginations  into  idolatry.*     They  were  dissatisfied  at  Tabe- 
rah,  even  though  the  miraculous  direction  of  the  cloud  had 
led  them  thither;^  and  so  mutinous  at  Kibroth-hattaavah, that 
Moses  found  himself  unequal  to  the  labour  of  bearing  up 
against  their  oppressions;  and  begged  to  have  a  number  of 
persons  to  assist  him  in  endeavouring  to  promote  amongst 
them  a  better  temper;^  a  work,  so  far  from  having  a  promis- 
ing appearance,  that  two  of  the  persons  nominated  to  it  would 
fain  have   declined   it,   had   they  not  been   encouraged   by  a 
miracle  to  undertake  it.^     When  the  people  came  to  Kadesh, 
and  might  have  entered  Canaan,  how  averse  were  they  to 
every  thing  which  Moses  would  have  directed,  though  they 
had  the  most  reasonable  application  in  the  world  made   to 
them,  to  induce  them  to  hope  for  success  in  their  undertaking?^ 
But  afterwards,  when  by  a  most  obstinate  opposition  they  had 
incurred  the  divine  displeasure,  and  were  warned  by  Moses, 
that  their  attempt  would  surely  fail,  then  nothing  could  pre- 
vent their  marching  to  a  defeat  from  their  enemies.^     In  the 
rebellion  of  Korah,  two  hundred  and  fifty  princes  of  the  con- 
gregation were  engaged  ;^  and  the  defection  was  so  obstinate, 
that  even  the  miraculous  destruction   of  Korah  and  all  his 
company  could  not  quell  it;  but  on  the  morrow,  the  congre- 
gation appeared  in  a  new   ferment,  apd  accused   Moses  and 
Aaron  of  having  killed  the  Lord's  people.^     Fourteen  thou- 
sand were  hereupon  taken  off  by  a  pestilence,  before  the  camp 
could  be  brought  into  any  temper ;''  and  another  most  sur- 
prising miracle  was  wrought  before  they  came  to  have  a  due 
sense  of  their  folly.*     And  now  what  opposition  could  the 
most  enterprising  of  our  modern  deists  have  made  to  Moses, 
which  his  Israelites  did  not  make  to  him ;  or  what  measures 
were  omitted,  that  could  possibly  have  been   taken  to  make 
the  utmost  trial  of  his  strength  and  authority,  in  every  part  of 
his  administration?  I  might  add  to  all  this,  we  never  find 
that  Moses  had  any  considerable  human   confederacy  to  abet 
and  support  him.     In  their  turns,  all  tribes  and  orders  of  his 
people  were  hot  in  opposing  him ;  and  his  nearest  relations, 
his  brother  and   sister,  Aaron  and  Miriam,  whenever  they 
thought  they  had  a  pretence  for  it,  were  as  ready  as  any  others 
to  withstand  and  condemn  him;^  and  were  so  positive  in  their 
contradiction  to  him,  that  nothing  less  than  a  miracle  could 
silence  them.'     A  considerable  part  of  his  own  tribe  headed 

•*  Exod,  xvii,  4.  6  Chap,  six,  xx,  xxiv,  xxxiii ;  see  book  xi,  p.  89. 

6  Numb,  xi,  1.  '  Ver.  14.  8  \  er,  26. 

9  Chap,  xiv,  7,  9.  »  Chap  xiv.  2  chap.  xvi. 

3  Ver.  41.  4  Ver.  49.  ^  Chap,  xvii,  1—10, 

«  Chap.  xU.  '  Ver.  10. 


204  SACRED  AND  PROFANE       BOOK  XII. 

the  fiercest  mutiny  that  was  ever  raised  against  him;  and  can 
it  be  thought,  after  all  these  things,  that  if  Moses  had  de- 
pended upon  artifice,  and  measures  concerted  between  him 
and  some  partizans,  to  impose  upon  the  people,  some  or  other 
of  these  defections  would  not  have  brought  the  secret  into 
open  light,  and  have  exposed  it  to  the  whole  congregation? 
But  instead  of  this,  throughout  all  his  administration,  we  see 
an  evident  series  of  the  clearest  miracles  openly  performed, 
to  give  him  weight  amongst  the  people;  and  whenever  they 
either  would  not  attend  to  him,  or  conspired  to  oppose  him, 
then  the  divine  vengeance  appeared  in  support  of  him,  and 
gave  the  congregation  no  other  choice,  but  to  obey,  or  be  con- 
sumed luith  dying. ^ 

V.  Will  it  be  here  remarked,  that  Moses  did  not  finish  the 
writing  his  books,  nor  order  the  reading  them,  until  the  gene- 
ration, with  whom  he  had  so  much  opposition,  were  all  in 
their  graves;  that  perhaps  the  children  of  these  men  being 
upon  the  borders  of  the  land  of  promise,  when  Moses  de- 
livered his  books  to  them,  and  warmed  with  hopes  of  seeing 
at  last  an  end  of  all  their  labours,  might  be  willing  not  to  be- 
gin new  contests  to  embarrass  their  affairs,  but  for  peace  and 
quiet  sake  even  consent  to  let  him  give  what  account  he 
would  of  what  was  past,  though  they  might  know  that  the 
substance  of  what  he  wrote  was  not  transacted  in  the  manner 
recorded  by  him?  I  answer;  if  this  were  true,  should  we  not 
have  found  the  Israelites,  when  Moses  was  dead  and  gone, 
not  over  fond  of  pay  in  j^,  and  obliging  their  posterity  for  ever 
to  pay,  a  most  sacred  regard  to  all  that  he  had  left  in  writing 
to  be  transmitted  to  them?  The  account,  which  Moses  left  of 
their  journeyings  in  the  wilderness,  if  it  was  not  true  in  fact, 
it  was  a  most  provoking  libel  upon  every  family,  except  one 
or  two,  of  the  whole  people.  For  how  strongly  does  it  re- 
present to  them,  that  their  fathers  had  all  been  a  stubborn 
and  a  rebellioiis  generation ;  a  generation  that  would  not 
set  their  hearts  aright,  nor  have  their  spirit  stedfast  with 
GoD.^  At  the  first  entrance  upon  forming  the  Jewish  polity, 
the  name  of  every  male  of  twenty  years  old  of  the  whole  peo- 
ple was  taken  down  after  their  families,  by  the  house  of  their 
fathers  after  their  poll.^  And  this  was  again  done  almost 
forty  years  after  in  the  plains  of  Moab,  when  all  the  jjersons, 
except  four,  whose  names  had  been  taken  in  the  former  poll, 
were  dead;-  so  that  Moses  left  them  a  most  clear  account,  of 
whom  every  one  of  them  was  descended.  And  the  keeping 
and  filling  up  their  genealogies  was  necessary  in  their  polity, 
for  ascertaining  to  each  family  and  member  of  it  the  inheri- 
tance in  the  land  which  was  severally  to  belong  to  them.  Can 

8  Numb,  xvii,  12.  13. 

9  See  Exodus  xxxii,  21;  Numb,  xlv,  28,  29;  xx.  10;  Deut.  i,  35;  ii,  14, 
15.  16;  Psalm  Ixxviii,  8. 

'  Numb,  i,  2.  -  Chap.  xxvi. 


BOOK  XII.  HISTORY  CONNECTED.  205 

we  now  think,  that  under  these  circumstances  they  should  all 
agree,  to  a  man,  to  have  Moses  record  with  infamy  the  imme- 
diate father  of  almost  every  one  of  them;  that  in  after-ages, 
when  their  posterity  should  look  back  unto  him  who  begat 
them,  they  might  be  told  they  were  descended  from  one,  who 
had  been  a  rebel  against  their  God,  and  was  cut  off  for  his 
iniquity?  The  children  of  Korah  were  alive  when  Moses  de- 
livered his  books;  for  we  have  a  line  of  this  family  contmued 
down  from  Korah  and  his  son  to  the  times  of  Solomon.^  And 
is  it  to  be  supposed  that  this  family  could  have  sutlisred  an 
account,  so  prodigious  in  all  its  circumstances,  of  the  rebellion 
and  destruction  of  Korah  and  all  his  company,  as  that  which 
Moses  has  given,*  to  go  down  without  conti-adiction  to  all 
posterity,  if  they  had  not  known  that  the  whole  and  every 
circumstance  of  it  had  been  undeniably  true,  and  notorious  to 
the  whole  congregation?  Men  are,  I  might  almost  say,  born 
with  sentiments  of  more  honour  and  respect  for  those  of 
whom  they  are  descended;  and  it  is  not  to  be  conceived  that 
a  man  of  such  excellent  temper,  as  Moses  was  of,^  should  offer, 
or  any  nation  of  people  receive  and  adhere  to  such  an  account 
of  their  ancestors  as  Moses  gave  the  Israelites,  if  the  truth  of 
what  he  recorded  had  not  been  unquestionably  known  and 
confirmed  to  them  all.  When  Romulus  the  first  king  of  the 
Romans  became  ungracious  to  his  people,  and  probably  fell  a 
sacrifice  to  some  secret  conspiracy,''  though  the  unsettled  state 
of  their  infant  constitution  was  not  thought  strong  enough  to 
have  the  real  sentiments,  which  the  senate  had  of  him,  laid 
open  to  the  people,  but  it  was  reputed  good  policy  to  have  an 
honourable  account  of  him  go  down  to  all  posterity;^  yet  we 
do  not  find,  that  they  took  care  to  give  an  unalterable  sanction 
to  his  institutions,  or  affected  to  have  him  thought  the  sole 
founder  of  their  polity  and  religion ;  but  rather,  the  more 
amiable  prince  who  succeeded  him,  had  the  reputation  of 
completing  what  Romulus  had  attempted,  and  of  giving  a 
fulness  and  perfection  to  every  part  of  their  constitution.^ 
Now  something  of  this  sort  we  should  have  found  concerning 
Moses,  if  he  had  died  in  any  disrepute  with  his  people.  But 
instead  hereof,  after  he  was  gone,  the  Israelites  abundantly 
testified  of  him,  that  his  successor  was  not  equal  to  him.^  And 
the  generation  to  whom  he  had  given  his  books,  took  the  ut- 
most care  to  perform  every  part  of  what  he  had  enjoined.^  It 
was  known  among  their  enemies,  that  his  directions  were  the 
rule  of  all  treaties  ;2  and  they  themselves  looked   at  every 


3  See  1  Chronic  vi,  33—38.  ■»  Numb.  xvi.  &  Chap,  xii,  3. 

c  Vid.  Liv.  Hist. ;  Dionys.  Halicarn.;  Phitaich.  in  Ilomul. 

"■  Deum,  _Dea  natum,  Regeni,  Parentemque  iirbis  lioniaiix  salvere  universi 
llomulum  jubent.  Pacem  precibus  exposcunt,  uti  volens  propitius  suam 
stmper  sospitet  progeniem.     Liv.  lib.  i.  c.  16. 

s   \  id,  Liv. ;  Dionys.  Halicar.j  Plutarch  in  Numa. 

''  Uciit.  xxxiv,  10.  1  Josh,  vlii,  35.  2  chap,  is,  24. 


206  SACRED  AND  PROFANE  liOOK  XII. 

event  of  their  wars  as  a  completion  of  what  Moses  had  fore- 
told.^ They  fully  ratified  every  thing  which  he  had  done/ 
and  paid  the  utmost  deference  to  any  private  claims,  founded 
upon  any  thing  which  he  had  said.*  They  made  all  their 
settlements  according  to  what  he  had  prescribed;^  and  ob- 
served of  all  their  acquirements,  that  they  had  succeeded  in 
them,  according  to  all  that  he  had  recorded.^  They  also 
warned  their  posterity,  that,  if  ever  they  departed  from  doing 
all  that  was  ivritten  in  the  book  of  his  law,  to  turn  aside 
therefrom  to  the  right  hand  or  to  the  left,^  they  would 
surely  fall  under  the  displeasure  of  God,  and  have  all  those 
evils  come  upon  them  which  he  had  in  such  case  pronounced 
against  them.^  Thus  there  appears  all  possible  evidence,  that 
the  men,  to  whom  Moses  delivered  what  he  wrote,  were  so 
far  from  having  a  disbelief  or  doubt  of  what  he  had  recorded, 
that  they  took  most  abundant  care  to  have,  as  1  might  say, 
no  part  of  it  fall  to  the  ground.  We  do  not  find  that  in 
any  one  thing  they  added  to  it,^  neither  did  they  diminish 
ought  from  it;^  not  even  the  disadvantageous  account  he  had 
given  of  their  fathers,  as  is  evident  from  the  appeal  of  their 
prophets  in  succeeding  ages  to  these  very  facts,  recorded  by 
him.^ 

But  I  might  observe  one  thing  farther  respecting  Moses: 
he  mu  t  have  written  with  a  strict  regard  to  truth  indeed, 
when  we  do  not  find  in  him  a  partiality  even  to  his  own  cha- 
racter. When  the  elder  Cyrus  was  about  to  die,  Xenophon 
represents,  that  he  suggested  to  his  friends  the  circumstances 
which  had  completed  the  happiness  of  his  life.  "  I  do  not  re- 
member," says  he,  '*  that  I  have  ever  aimed  at,  or  attempted, 
what  I  did  not  compass.  I  have  seen  my  friends  made  happy 
by  me,  and  I  leave  my  country  in  the  highest  glory,  which 
was  heretofore  of  but  little  figure  in  Asia."-*  How  natural  is 
this  sentiment?  What  wise  man  would  not  wish  to  close  his 
clay  after  this  manner?  And  is  it  not  obvious  that  Moses  might, 
with  much  truth,  have  sent  his  life  down  to  posterity,  adorned 
with  many  hints  of  this  nature?  For  how  easy  had  it  been  for 
him  to  have  observed  to  his  people  to  this  purpose:  '*  I  was 
born  amongst  you,  when  ye  were  slaves  in  the  land  of  Egypt: 
I  brought  you  forth  from  the  house  of  bondage:  I  have  for 
forty  years  supported  you  in  the  great  wilderness  :  I  have 
preserved  you  in  all  the  heats  and  intestine  divisions  we  have 
unhappily  had  amongst  us:  I  have  at  last  conducted  you  into 
a  part  of  the  country  where  you  are  to  settle:  I  am  now  old, 
and  cannot  hope  to  be  much  longer  with  you :  but  I  think  my- 

3  .Josh  xi,  20.  *  Cliap.  xii,  6,  7;  xiii.  5  Chap,  xiv,  5—15. 

c  Chup.  XX,  xxi.  '  Chap,  xxi,  44,  45  ;  xxiii,  14,  15. 

8  Chap,  xxiii,  6.  ^  Ver.  13—16. 

»  Deut.  iv,  2  ;  xii,  32;  Joshua  i,  7.  2  jbid. 

3  See  I'salm  Ixxviii ;  xcv,  9,  10;  Ezek  xx,  10—17. 

^  Vid.  Xenophon.  Cjropaid.  lib.  viii. 


BOOK  XIT.  HISTORY  CONNECTED.  207 

self  happy,  and  can  now  leave  you  with  joy,  having  lived  to 
show  you,  by  experience,  that  you  have  your  settlement  in 
your  hands  :  ye  have  seen  already  the  success  ye  may  have 
against  your  enemies:  go  on  in  the  way  I  have  opened  to  you, 
and  ye  shall  soon  triumph  over  the  remainder  of  them."  But, 
instead  of  any  thing  of  this  sort,  Moses  records,  respecting 
himself  and  Aaron,  that  the  Lord  had  said  unto  them,  Be- 
cause ye  believed  me  not,  to  sanctify  me  in  the  eyes  of  the 
children  of  Israel ;  therefore  ye  shall  not  bring  this  congre- 
gation into  the  land  which  I  have  given  them.^  He  repeats 
it  to  them,  that  he  had  offended  God,^  turns  their  eyes  from 
himself  to  his  successor,^  fully  acquaints  them  that  not  he,  but 
Joshua,  was  to  lead  them  into  the  land  f  confessing,  at  the 
same  time,  that  he  had  a  most  passionate  desire  to  conduct 
their  conquests  ;  but  that  God  would  not  hear  him  in  this 
matter.^  Thus  Moses,  though  they  who  came  after  him  highly 
extolled  him  above  any  of  his  successors;^  though  from  the 
general  character,  which  God  had  given  of  him,^  he  might 
certainly  have  covered  his  dishonour  in  the  one  only  circum- 
stance there  ever  was  to  be  the  cause  of  it;  though  surely,  if 
any  man  ever  had  whereof  to  glory,  in  the  many  revelations 
made  to  him,  and  the  mighty  works^  which  had  been  done  by 
him,  he  might  be  thought  to  have  had  so  more  abundantly; 
yet  from  a  most  sacred  regard  to  truth,  he  was  after  all  con- 
tent.,to  lay  himself  down  numbered  with  the  transgressors. 
Where  now  in  all  history  can  we  find  an  instance  of  the  like 
nature?  A  wise  man  would  not  indeed  be  so  vain,  as  to  wish 
to  have  a  lustre  given  to  his  actions,  which  they  will  not  at 
all  bear;  and  yet  it  is  natural  for  an  honest  man,  if  he  is  to  be 
known  to  those  who  are  to  come  after  him,  to  wish  to  be  seen 
in  the  best  light ;  to  desire  to  have  the  good,  which  may  be 
said  of  him,  mentioned  as  much  to  his  advantage  as  the  cause 
of  truth  can  fairly  admit,  and  as  much  of  what  may  be  said  to 
his  disadvantage  not  told,  as  may  be  admitted  concerning  him. 
This  was  the  sentiment  of  the  younger  Pliny;'*  and  unques- 
tionably Moses  would  not  have  treated  his  own  character  with 
a  greater  rigour,  if  he  had  not  made  it  the  great  principle  of 
his  work,  to  write  with  all  truth  a  full  account  of  the  proceed- 
ings of  God's  dispensations,  rather  than  his  own  history. 

If  Moses  had  not  had  the  direction  of  an  immediate  revela- 
tion, I  do  not  think  he  would  have  left  the  Israelites  any  body 
of  written  laws;  at  least  he  would  never  have  thought  of  tying 
them  and  their  posterity  in  all  ages,  whatever  changes  and 
chances  might  happen  to  their  affairs,  to  so  minute  and  strict 
an  observance  of  so  various  and  extensive  a  body  of  laws, 

5  Numb   XX,  12.  6  Numb,  xxvii,  14,  Deut.  i,  ",7;  xxxi,  2, 

7  Deut.  xxxi.  7.  8  Ver.  14,  &c.  9  Chap,  lii,  .3— 27- 

1  Ctiap.  XXX, V,  10.  t  Numb,  xii,  7. 

3  See  Numb  xii,  0 — 8;  Deut  xxxiv,  10,  11. 
«  Vid.  Pirn.  Epist.  lib.  viii,  Ep.  38. 


208  SACRED  AND  PROFANE  1300K  Xll. 

without  leaving;  them  at  any  time  a  power  to  add  or  diminish 
from  them.*  Lycur2:us  reformed  the  Lacedaemonian  state,  and 
pretended  that  himself  had  the  direction  of  Apollo;^  but  he 
did  not  venture  to  give  his  people  a  body  of  written  laws  for 
them  to  live  by  without  variation.''  If  he  had,  the  shortness 
and  imperfection  of  human  wisdom  would,  unquestionably, 
in  a  few  ac^es,  have  appeared  throug;hout  any  such  code,  in 
many  particulars  contained  in  it.  Of  this  Lycurgus  seems  to 
have  been  well  aware;  and  therefore  in  one  of  his  Rhetrae  re- 
commended it  to  his  people,  not  to  tie  themselves  down  to 
written  laws  at  all.^  He  thought  the  affairs  of  all  states  subject 
to  such  a  variety  of  contingencies,  that  what  could  be  ap- 
pointed at  one  time,  might  be  very  improper  at  another ;  and 
that  therefore  a  civil  polity  would  be  more  stable,  which  was 
founded  only  upon  general  maxims,  with  a  liberty  to  direct 
particulars,  as  occasion  should  require,  than  where  a  set  of 
laws  are  composed  to  be  inviolably  maintained,  minutely  to 
prescribe  and  limit  the  incidents  of  political  life.^  We  read 
of  Numa,  that  whilst  he  lived,  he  instructed  the  Pontifices  in 
all  the  rites  and  appointments  of  his  religion,  but  he  was  not 
willing  to  leave  the  twelve  volumes  he  had  written  to  the 
perusal,  or  for  the  direction  of  posterity,  but  ordered  his 
sacred  books  to  be  buried  with  him.^  Some  ages  after,  the 
place  where  they  had  been  buried  was  accidentally  broken 
up,  and  the  books  taken  out  of  the  stone  chest,  in  which  iMiey 
had  been  reposited;  and  Pctilius,  the  then  Praetor,  was  ap- 
pointed to  peruse  them.  But  he  found  them  so  far  from  being 
likely  to  be  of  service  to  the  public,  that  he  made  oath  to  the 
senate,  that  the  contents  of  them  ought  not  to  be  divulged  j 
whereupon  a  public  order  passed  to  have  them  burned.^  Philo 
the  Jews  remarks,  that  in  all  other  nations,  time  and  accidents 
had  made  many  alterations  of  their  laws  absolutely  necessary: 
that  the  Jewish  law  was  the  only  one  on  Earth  which  was  not 
grown  obsolete  in  any  of  its  bi-anches.^  The  IMedes  and  Per- 
sians indeed  affected  to  have  the  compliment,  which  they  paid 
their  kings,'*  thought  to  be  a  real  perfection  of  their  laws,  that 
they  were  to  live  for  ever  :^  but  their  kings,  we  find,  had  a 
power  to  make  decrees,*^  which  might  defeat  the  effect,  which 
laws,  that  altered  not,  and  could  not  be  changed,  might  have 

s  Deut.  iv,  2.  ^  Diodor.  Sic.  Hist.  lib.  i,  p.  59. 

'  No^Kc  cTs  ytf^f^L/xfjava;  o  AujtKp>«f  »«  i^miv.     Plutarch,  in  Lycurg.  p.  47. 

8  Pliiiarcli.  in  Lvciirg.  p.  47.  »  Id.  ibid. 

>  Id.  in  Numa,  p.  74.  2  jd.  ibid. 

3  fa.    iJi.it    Toiv    awcfv    wfJUfjua,    u    tic  i-rin    ra    X'.yiTfAoi,    ha.    /xufl^t;   rrpoipKfiii 

cVpilS-U    KiKtVltJUiVH.      TTOXifAOK;,      H      TUpMVIITIP,     «      Tl^tV    HKMti    aCxMTOt:,      O.     Vi(liTifl7fA!C 

vojf  KAdiiKi  voyUKf,  ret  MdLV  a-yxBii  Tuv  -TTOKKuit  (fifUv  V  Svii.y.iim\,  a\Ket  J'lx  xc/iot 
r<vSpt^<j]iTU)i  t/fs/c  J'  avT;-T*xov  vojuce'  ta  iTe  tbtk  /uovs  ^Saju.,  ua-at.XiuTtt,  AicpaSavrx, 
nitbiTTip  <rpf,u.yia-t  ^urtux  auriK  a-tT>tiuAa-/unct,  juivu  la-iyioi;  ap  m  »f*ipa.i  typafy 
Miyj"  "'"'      PI"'o  de  Vita  Mosis,  lib.  i. 

4  Uan.  li,  4;  iii,  9  •      »  Chap,  vi,  8,  15  ;  Esther  i,  19. 
«  See  Esther  viii,  8 ;  Prideaux,  Connect,  part  i,  book  v,  ad  An.  453. 


BOOK  XII.  HISTORY  CONNECTED.  209 

been  attended  with,  whenever  an  effect  not  approved  of  would 
have  been  the  consequence  of  any  of  them.  Human  foresight 
cannot  at  once  calculate  and  provide  for  all  the  changes  and 
chances,  which  must  happen  in  a  course  of  ages  to  the  affairs 
of  a  people.  *  And  Moses  must  have  been  a  weak  man,  too 
weak  to  be  the  author  of  the  laws  he  has  given  us,  if  he  did 
not  know  enough  of  human  life  to  cause  him  to  consider,  that 
how  well  soever  he  might  estimate  the  then  state  and  views 
of  his  people,  yet  he  could  never  be  sure,  but  that  something 
very  different  from  what  he  might  form  for  them,  might  in 
time  be  very  proper  to  become  their  constitution,  in  order  to 
attain  the  political  prospects  which  anight  arise.  But  known 
unto  God  are  all  his  purposes,  yrom  the  beginning  of  the 
world  f  and  he  can  secure  them  a  full  effect,  as  he  pleases,  even 
to  the  end.  Now,  if  it  was  indeed  the  purpose  of  God  to  choose, 
as  Moses  represents,  the  house  of  Jacob,  to  be  unto  himself  a 
peculiar  people,^  and  to  give  them  a  law,  by  a  punctual  ob- 
servance of  which  they  were  to  be  kept,  shut  up  unto  the 
faith,  which  should  afterwards  be  revealed  f  we  may  hence 
open  a  view  of  things  which  will  fully  account  for  Moses, 
under  the  immediate  direction  of  a  revelation  from  God,  ap- 
pointing to  the  Israelites  all  his  institutions,  and  charging 
them  not  to  turn  therefrom,  to  the  right  hand  or  to  the  left,^ 
until  the  fulness  of  time  should  come.^ 

Some  writers  inform  us  that  Moses  was  the  first  who  ever 
gave  written  laws  to  a  people,^  and  I  do  not  find  any  thing 
valid  to  contradict  this  opinion;  though  the  abettors  of  it  have 
made  mistakes  in  their  attempts  to  support  it.  Justin  Martyr 
cites  Diodorus  Siculus  in  favour  of  it;"  lout  Diodorus  evidently 
speaks  not  of  Moses,  but  of  Mneves  an  Egyptian;^  for  Moses 
is  afterwards  mentioned  by  Diodorus  in  the  same  passage,  and 
with  such  different  circumstances,  as  abundantly  show,  that 
Diodorus  thought  Mneves  and  Moses  were  not  one  and  the 
same  person.^  The  learned  editor  of  Diodorus  Siculus  thinks 
the  word  ayparttoij,  in  the  text  should  be  corrected  fyypaij)^?, 
and  says,  the  passage  is  so  worded  in  Justin  Martyr's  citation 
of  it.^  If  this  were  the  true  text  of  Diodorus,  '.ve  might  ga- 
ther from  him  that  Mneves  taught  his  people  to  live  by  writ- 

"  Acts  XV,  18.  8  Exod.  xix,  5;  Deut.  vii,  6;  xiv,  2;  xxvi,  18. 

9  Galat.  lii,  23. 

>   Deut.  xviii,  15—18;  John  i,  45;  Acts  iii,22— 24;  Gal.  iv,  4. 

2  Deut.  V,  32;  xxviii,  14  ;  Josh,  i,  7,  8. 

3  Joseph,  cont.  Ap.  lib.  ii.  *  In  Protreptic.  p.  8, 

5  The  same  passage  is  cited  by  St.  Cyril,  contr.  Julian,  lib.  i.  Both  Cyril 
and  Justin  Martyr  cite  Diodorus  thus  :  Ma)U(r«v  wJjix  Jtau  m  -^"X."  f^^^'^y  ^c* 
Hat  Diodorus's  words  are :  Mvft/Jiv  «vJ)!«  »*<  'r«  -^"X,"  f**y-^-  V'id.  Diodor. 
Hist  lib.  i,  p.  59. 

fi  Diodorus  says  of  Mneves,  Tov  Mvsuhv  Trpo^TrotyiBuvcii  uvrtu)  tov  E/;//»v  JaT^wva; 
ruTKc,  /'.  e  vofjixi.  Of  Moses  he  says  afterwards,  Tlcipi  S'i  twc  IwSucti  Ma>^nv 
[Tpoa-7rotii3-'j.erBuj  tkc  v3^«c  curai  iiiovuj]  tcv  laxo  iriKAK>iy.ivov  Sew.  Diodor.  ubi 
sup. 

7  Vid.  Rliodoman,  Conjectur.  in  loc. 

Vol.  III.  D  d 


210  SACRED  AND  PliOFANE  BOOK  XII. 

ten  laws,^  which  would  hint  that  such  laws  had  been  in  use 
centuries  before  the  times  of  Moses;  for  JNIneves  can  be  no 
other  than  Menes,  who  was  Moses's  Mizraim,  the  first  planter 
of  Egypt.^  Mneves  lived  in  the  age  next  after  the  gods  and 
heroes;*  which  was  the  time  of  Menes,  or  INIizraim's  life.^ 
Mneves  had  his  laws  from  Hermes  or  Mercury,^  and  Hermes 
or  Mercury  was  the  surname  of  Thoth  or  Thyoth,  who  was 
secretary  to  Mizraim  or  Menes."*  In  short,  Mneves  or  Me- 
nes may  reasonably  be  thought  to  be  the  same  name,  with 
only  a  little  difference  in  writing  it.  Now,  if  we  allow  this, 
and  take  Diodorus  to  suggest,  that  Mneves  taught  his  people 
to  use  written  laws,  since  Menes  or  Mizraim  planted  Egypt 
about  A.  M.  1772,*  we  shall  make  written  laws  to  have  been 
in  use  in  Egypt  about  seven  hundred  years  before  the  time  of 
Moses;  but  had  they  been  so,  we  should  unquestionably  have 
found  the  Greeks  forming  their  states  with  written  laws  much 
earlier  than  the  times  when  they  appear  to  have  had  their  first 
notion  of  them ;  for  the  arts  and  sciences  of  Egypt  found  a 
way  into  Greece  very  early;*  and  yet  the  inhabitants  of  this 
country  seem  to  have  had  no  knowledge  of  written  laws  until 
after  Homer's  time;  for,  as  Josephus  has  remarked,  we  find 
no  word  in  all  his  poems  which  signifies  a  written  law;  the 
word  No^o5  having  a  different  sense,  wherever  it  is  used  by 
him.^  A  due  consideration  of  these  points  must  suggest  to  us, 
1.  That  both  Cyril  and  Justin  Martyr  mistook  the  true  mean- 
ing of  Diodorus,  in  the  passage  they  cite  from  him.  They 
suppose  him  to  be  speaking  of  Mnses;  but  he  was  mentioning 
another  person,  the  first  planter  and  king  of  Egypt.  Accord- 
ingly, to  accommodate  his  words  to  what  they  thought  his 
intention,  they  interpolated  his  text,  where  he  wrote  Mifij^v, 
Mneves,  they  wrote  Muoijr,  Moses,  and  having  made  this 
emendation,  Moses's  law  being  a  written  law,  forced  upon 
them  another,  and  induced  them,  where  he  used  the  word 
oypartfotj,  unwritten,  to  imagine  he  meant  eyypa^ois,  or  written, 
and  to  cite  him,  not  as  he  really  wrote,  but  as  they  falsely 
judged  he  had  intended.  Whereas,  2.  Diodorus  really  meant 
to  remark,  that  Mneves  was  the  first  person  who  taught  the 
Egyptians  the  use  of  laws;  but  they  were  to^ot  (vypoTtroi,  un- 
written laws.  The  early  kings  instructed  their  people  by 
verbal  edicts;  and  Diodorus,  in  the  passage  cited,  intimates, 
that  this  most  ancient  Egyptian  legislator  had  formed  his  peo- 
ple in  this  manner,  before  the  use  of  written  laws  was  intro- 
duced into  the  world;  and  he  imagines  that  he  had  feigned 


*   Xlua-dii  (puiTi  TTfUTCv  ryyp^OK  vo/xut  )^na-aL3-Bsu  rx  ttkhBh  tov  Mvwxv. 

9  See  vol.  1,  b.  iv,  p.  129.  •  DiOilor.  ubi  sup. 

2  Vol    1,  b.  i,  p.  47.  3  Diocior.  iibi  sup. 

<  Vol.  i,  b.  iv,  p.  134.  5  Ibid.  p.  129, 

6  Ibid,  and  vol.  ii,  b.  viii, 

'  Joseph,  cont,  Apion.  1.  ii,  c.  15;  Jos.  Barnes,  in  v,  20;  Hymn,  ad  ApoUln. 


BOOK  Xir.  HISTORY  CONNECTED.  211 

Mercury  or  Hermes  to  have  given  him*  what  he  spake  to 
them,  in  order  to  his  words  having  weight  among  his  peo- 
ple ;^  that  they  might  think  a  divine  sentence'  to  be  in  the 
lips  of  their  king,^  and  that  his  mouth  transgressed  not  in  the 
judgments  which  he  delivered  to  them. 

There  are  some  particulars  commanded  in  the  law  of  Moses, 
which  it  is  evident  that  Moses,  at  the  time  when  he  enjoined 
them,  knew  might  be  fatal  to  the  welfare  of  his  people,  if 
God  did  not  interpose,  and  by  an  especial  providence  pre- 
serve them  from  what  the  obeying  such  commands  tended 
evidently  to  bring  upon  them.  Of  this  sort  is  the  law  he 
gave  them;  for  all  their  males  to  appear  three  times  in  a  year 
before  the  Lord;^  and  the  command  not  to  sow  or  till  any  of 
their  lands,  or  dress  their  vineyards,  or  gather  any  fruit  of 
them  every  seventh  year;^  and  if,  as  some  of  the  learned  cal- 
culate, the  year  of  Jubilee  was  a  different  year  from  the  se- 
venth Sabbatical  year,"*  then  after  seven  times  seven  years,  on 

8  JlfarTrotnQvcu  <f'  cturte  rev  Ef/u.}iv  J'iJcuK&ia.i  thti^c.  The  word  Stifunavcti  here 
signifies,  to  dictate  to  the  mind  what  is  to  be  spoken,  as  in  Mark  xii  ,  11. 

^  ri/joc  THii  v7rifo^>iv  x.a/  Sxjidiy.iv  tuy  tupuv  Ktyr.fjii)iuv  ras  yoy.w  ATroCxi^ctvroi  tai 
o;^wv  (JLithxcv  v7riucis'Tf<T&!u  J'iu?i<tSoyT!tc.     Diodor.  ubi  sup. 

«  Prov.  XVI,  10. 

2  Exod.  xxiii,  17;  xxxiv,  23. 

3  Chap,  xxiii,  10,  11 ;  Levit.  xxv,  3,  4,  5,  6,  7. 

4  The  learned  have  been  much  divided  about  the  year  of  Jubilee,  whether 
it  was  to  be  kept  in  the  forty-ninth  year,  which  taken  inclusively  may  be  called 
the  fiftieth ;  or  whether  forty-nine  yeai's  were  to  run  out,  and  then  the  next  or 
fiftieth  year  was  to  be  the  year  of  Jubilee.  Vid.  Cleric.  Comment,  iii  Levit. 
XXV;  Petav.  Rationar.  Tempor.  part  ii,  c.  7.  And  we  have  so  few,  and  such 
imperfect  accounts  of  the  practice  of  the  Jews,  in  their  observance  of  this  or 
their  Sabbatical  years,  that  it  may  be  difficult  to  ofi'er  any  tJiing  certain  upon 
this  subject.  The  most  learned  Dean  Prideaux  thought  the  text,  Levi  .  xxv, 
8 — 12,  to  he  in  favour  of  the  Jubilee  year's  being  the  next  to  the  forty -ninth  or 
seventh  Sabi)atical  year.  Preface  to  vol.  i,  of  his  Connect.  The  words  of  the 
text  are.  Thou  shall  number  seven  Sabbaths  of  years  unto  thee,  seven  times  seven 
years  ;  and  the  space  of  the  seven  subbaths  of  years  shall  be  unto  thee  forty  and 
nine  years.  Then  shall  thou  cause  the  trumpet  of  t lie  Jubilee  to  sound  on  the  tenth 
day  of  the  seventh  month,  in  the  day  of  atonement — Jlnd  ye  shall  hallow  the  fiftieth 
year — ^  Jubilee  shall  that  fiftieth  year  be  unto  you,  ye  shall  not  sow,  neither  reap 
that  -ivhich  groweth  of  itself  in  it.  Levit.  xxv,  8 — 11.  We  may  perhaps  come 
at  the  true  meaning  of  the  text,  if  we  take  it,  1.  to  direct  the  Israelites  to  ob- 
serve,  at  their  due  intervals,  seven  Sabbatical  years.  2  To  remark  that  a  course 
of  seven  such  years,  with  the  six  years  of  tillage  belonging  to  each  of  them, 
duly  observed,  were  to  make  up  the  full  amount  of  forty-nine  years  :  the  space 
of  the  seven  sabbaths  of  years  shall  be  unto  thee  forty  and  nine  years  ;  or  to  render 
the  Hebrew  text  verbatim,  the  days  of  the  seven  subbaths  of  years  shall  be  unto 
thee  forty  and  nine  years.  The  meaning  of  which  remark  will  appear,  if  we  al- 
low tiie  text,  3.  to  suggest  to  them,  that  they  were  to  begin  the  Jubilee  year 
on  the  tenth  day  of  the  seventh  month  of  the  forty-ninth,  or  seventh  Sabbatical 
year  ;  thou  shall  cavse  the  trumpet  of  the  Jubilee  to  sonvd  on  the  tenth  day  of  the 
seventh  month.  The  observance  of  each  Sabbatical  vear  was,  I  imagine,  to  be- 
gin as  soon  as  the  sixth  year's  crop  could  be  got  oft"  the  ground  in  the  begin- 
ning of  the  seventh  year  ;  for  the  harvest  in  Canaan  fell  in  the  first  month.  See 
and  compare  Joshua  iii,  15,  with  1.  Chron.  xii.  15.  And  when  the  Israelites 
had  counted  the  seven  times  seven  years,  so  as  to  be  in  observance  of  their 
seventh  Sabbath  year,  then  on  the  tenth  day  of  the  seventh  month  they  were 
to  begin  a  year  of  Jubilee,  only  remembering  that  they  were  not  to  reckon  the 
Sabbath  year  they  were  then  keeping  to  end  upon  commencing  the  Jubilee,  for 


212  SACRED  AND  PROFANE  BOOK  Xll. 

every  fiftieth  year,  they  were  to  have  their  lands  and  vine- 
yards lie  undressed  and  uncultivated  two  years  together/ 
The  first  of  these  laws  ohliged  them  to  leave  their  cities  and 
habitations  exposed  and  without  defence  to  any  invaders,  who 
might  at  such  times  make  incursions  upon  them;  for  at  these 
three  times  in  every  year  all  their  males  v/ere  to  come  up 
from  all  parts  of  the  country  into  the  place  where  the  taber- 
nacle was  fixed,  before  the  temple  was  built,^  and  afterwards 
to  the  temple  at  Jerusalem.  The  second  must,  ordinarily 
speaking,  have  brought  upon  them  many  inconveniences,  as  it 
required  them  to  lose  at  once  a  whole  year's  produce  of  all 
their  country.  And  if  the  Jubilee  year  was  to  be  kept,  as  is 
above  hinted,  and  they  were  not  to  sow  nor  reap  in  the  fif- 
tieth year,  when  the  year  immediately  foregoing  had  been  a 
Sabbath  year;  this,  one  would  think,  must  have  distressed 
them  with  the  extremities  of  a  famine.^  JMoses  had  a  full 
sense,  that  all  these  evils  might  attend  the  observance  of  these 
laws.  He  was  well  apprised  that,  as  Canaan  was  an  inland 
country,  and  his  Israelites  were  to  be  surrounded  with,  and 
open  to  many  foreign  nations,  it  could  never  be  thought 
agreeable  to  good  policy,  three  times  a  year  to  draw  all  the 
males  from  the  fi-ontiers  of  the  land ;  for  what  would  this  be 
less,  than  to  give  every  enemy  they  had  so  many  remarkable 
and  well  known  opportunities  to  enter  their  coasts  without 
fear  of  resistance,  and  to  plunder  or  take  possession  of  them 
as  they  pleased?  And  can  it  be  conceived,  that  any  state  or 
kingdom  could  be  long  flourishing,  which  should  be  bound 
by  law  to  expose  itself  in  this  manner?  But  against  these 
fears  Moses  assured  his  people,  that  God  would  protect  them, 
and  sets  before  them  God's  promise.  I  will  cast  out  the  na- 
tions before  thee,  and  enlarge  thy  borders ;  neither  shall 


the  seven  sabbaths  of  years  were  to  contain  the  days  of  forty -nine  years,  which 
they  would  not  have  amounted  to,  if  the  seventh  Sabbath  year  was  to  have 
been  thought  finished  on  the  tenth  day  of  the  seventh  month,  upon  beginning- 
the  Jubilee.  4.  As,  according-  to  this  account,  the  year  of  Jubilee  did  not  be- 
gin and  end  with  the  Sabbatical  year;  but  commenced  some  months  later,  and 
extended  a  like  space  of  time  longer;  so  it  was  evidently  not  any  one  of  the 
years  contained  in  the  seven  Sabbaths  of  \eai-s,  though  it  was  in  part  concur- 
rent with  the  last  of  them.  Accordingly,  it  is  properly  styled  m  the  text  a 
liftieth  year,  as  not  being  any  oi.e  of  the  forty-nine  before-mentioned.  If  what 
lias  been  offered  may  be  admitted,  then,  5.  Thougii  the  Jubdce  year  began  and 
ended  some  months  later  than  a  Sabbatical  year,  yet,  as  the  season  for  seed 
time  did  not  come  on  in  Canaan  befjre  the  fifteentli  day  of  the  seventh  month 
was  over  (see  Levit.  xxiii,  o9,)  tiie  Jubilee  year  ending  as  it  began,  on  the 
tcntii  day  of  this  seventh  month,  did  not  command  a  year's  neglect  of  harvest 
and  tillage,  other  than  what  the  Sabbath-year  in  part  concurrent  with  it  en- 
joined. Only,  perhaps,  the  year  of  Jubilee  obliged  them  to  defer  preparing 
tlieir  lands  some  months  longer  than  a  Sabb.itical  year,  not  attended  with  a 
Jubilee,  required;  causing  them  hereby  to  end  every  forty-ninth  or  seventh 
Sabbatical  year,  with,  as  I  might  say,  a  greater  solemnity, 

5  Levit.  XXV,  8— 12.  e  Deut.'xvi;  ISam.  i,  3. 

7  We  find  a  sore  famine  in  Samaria  in  Elijah's  time,  from  unseasonable  wea- 
ther for  tlirce  years  together,  1  Kings  xvii,  xviii. 


BOOK  XII.  HISTORY  CONNECTED.  213 

any  man  desire  thy  land,  when  thou  shalt  go  up  to  appear 
before  the  Lord  thy  God  thrice  in  the  year.^  So  that  in 
obeying  this  command,  the  Israelites  were  three  times  a 
year  to  expose  themselves,  contrary  to  all  rules  of  good  po- 
licy, in  confidence  of  a  marvellous  protection  of  God,  who 
had  promised  to  prevent  any  enemies  taking  advantage  of 
their  so  doing.  In  like  manner,  Moses  answers  the  objection 
which  would  be  made  to  observing  the  law  for  the  seventh  or 
Sabbatical  year.  If  ye  shall  say,  says  he  to  them  in  the 
name  and  words  of  God,  What  shall  we  eat  the  seventh 
year?  Behold,  ive  shall  not  sow  nor  gather  in  our  in- 
crease: then  I  will  command  my  blessing  upon  you  in  the 
sixth  year,  and  it  shall  bring  forth  fruit  for  three  years  f 
a  most  extraordinary  produce  was  promised  all  over  the  land, 
at  all  times,  the  year  before  they  were  to  begin  their  neglect 
of  harvest  and  tillage.  Now  can  any  one  imagine  that  Moses 
could  ever  have  thought  of  obliging  the  Israelites  to  such  laws 
as  these,  if  God  had  not  really  given  a  particular  command 
about  them?  Or  would  the  Israelites  have  been  so  weak  as 
to  obey  such  pernicious  injunctions,  if  they  had  not  had  a  suf- 
ficient evidence  that  the  commands  were  of  God,  and  that  he 
would  indeed  protect  them  in  their  observance  of  them  ?  Or 
liad  they  been  so  romantic,  as  to  have  gone  into  an  obedience 
to  keep  such  institutions  as  these,  if  they  had  not  been  of  God, 
and  without  an  especial  providence  to  protect  and  preserve 
them  from  the  consequences  which  would  naturally  arise 
from  them?  would  not  a  few  years  trial  have  brought  home 
to  them  a  dear  bought  experience  of  so  great  a  folly?  Their 
enemies  would,  unquestionably,  have  many  times  taken  ad- 
vantage of  the  opportunities  they  gave  them  to  enter  their 
country.  And  a  sixth  year's  crop,  no  better  than  ordinary, 
must  have  perpetually  convinced  them  the  observance  of  the 
Sabbatical  year  was  a  mere  idle  fancy,  not  supported  by  such 
a  blessing  from  God  as  they  had  been  told  was  annexed  to  it. 
The  Israelites  fell  indeed  into  a  great  neglect  of  observing 
their  Sabbatical  years  some  centuries  before  their  captivity. ^ 
But  it  is  remarkable,  that  they  thought  they  had  so  little  co- 
lour for  this  breach  of  their  duty,  from  any  failure  of  God's 
promise  to  them,  that  they  looked  upon  the  number  of  years 
which  their  land  was  to  be  desolate,  when  they  were  carried 
to  Babylon,  to  be  a  particular  judgment  upon  them,  designed 
by  God  to  answer  to  the  number  of  the  Sabbatical  years, 

8  Exod.  xxxiv,  24. 

9  The  meaning  of"  the  expression  yor  three,  years  is  explained  hv  what  follows, 
Levit.  XXV,  22.  And  ye  shall  so~a  the  eighth  year,  ami  eat  yet  of  the  old  fruit  until 
the  ninth  year  ;  itntil  the  frvits  come  in,  ye  shall  eat  of  the  old  store.  The  promise 
did  not  mean  th.it  the  sixth  year's  produce  should  last  the  term  of  thi-ee  com- 
plete years  ;  but  that  it  should  suffice  for  the  seventh  year,  for  the  eighth  year, 
and  for  a  part  of  the  ninth  year,  namely,  until  the  harvest,  in  the  beginning  of 
the  ninth  year,  should  bring  in  the  frufts  of  tlie  eighth  year's  tillage. 

'•  Prideaux,  T'rcf.  to  Connect,  part  i. 


214  SACRED  AND  PROFANE       BOOK  XU. 

which  they  had  not  observed.^  After  the  captivity,  the  Jews 
were  more  observant  of  this  injunction;  as  we  find  them  keep- 
ing their  Sabbath  years  in  the  times  of  Alexander  the  Great; 
for,  upon  account  of  their  not  tilling  their  lands  in  those  years, 
they  petitioned  him  for  a  remission  of  every  seventh  year's 
tribute.^  As  to  the  command  for  appearing  three  times  in 
the  year  before  the  Lord,  we  find  it  practised  by  the  Jews  to 
their  very  latest  times.  When  Cestius  the  Roman  came 
against  Lydda,  he  found  no  men  in  the  city,  for  they  were 
all  gone  to  Jerusalem,  to  the  feast  of  tabernacles  ;"*  and  after- 
wards, when  Titus  laid  siege  to  Jerusalem,  he  shut  up  in  it, 
as  it  were,  the  whole  Jewish  nation,  for  they  were  then  as- 
sembled there  to  keep  the  feast  of  unleavened  bread:*  Jose- 
phus,  indeed,  remarks,  that  the  keeping  this  feast  at  the  time 
when  Titus  came  to  besiege  Jerusalem  greatly  conduced  to 
conclude  the  fate  of  his  country;^  but  we  should  observe,  that 
this  did  not  happen  until  after  our  Saviour's  time,  until  the 
Jews  were  given  up  by  God,  and  their  city  and  polity  were 
to  be  trodden  down  of  the  Gentiles.'' 

Upon  the  death  of  Moses,  A.  M.  2554,  at  the  beginning  of 
the  year,  Joshua  took  the  command  of  the  Israelites;  and  when 
the  days  of  mourning  for  Moses  were  over,  he  prepared,  ac- 
cording to  directions  which  God  had  given  him,  to  remove 
the  camp,  and  enter  Canaan."^  But  before  he  began  to  march, 
he  sent  two  spies  to  Jericho,  a  city  over  against  the  camp,  on 
the  other  side  the  river  Jordan,^  The  spies,  when  they  came 
to  Jericho,  went  to  the  house  of  a  woman  named  Rahab,  and 
lodged  there. ^  She  concealed  them  from  the  search  which  the 
king  of  Jericho  made  for  them,  and  after  three  days  they  came 
back  to  Joshua,  and  reported  what  terror  the  inhabitants  of 
Canaan^  were  in  upon  account  of  the  Israelites.  The  behaviour 
of  Rahab  to  the  spies  was  indeed  extraordinary,  and  must  at 
first  sight  appear  liable  to  objections;  for  upon  what  principle 
could  she  receive  into  her  house  the  known  enemies  of  her 
country,  conceal  them  from  the  searchers,  and  dismiss  them 
in  safety,  contrary  to  her  duty  to  the  public,  and  allegiance 
to  the  king  of  Jericho?  We  are  told,  that  she  professed  herself 
to  know,  that  the  God  of  the  Israelites  was  God  in  Heaven 
above,  and  in  Earth  beneath,^  and  that  the  Lord  had  given 
them  the  land.^  But  we  are  not  informed  by  the  writer  of 
the  book  of  Joshua,  whether  she  collected  these  things  only 
from  having  heard,  what  she  mentioned  to  the  spies,  how  the 
waters  of  the  Red  Sea  were  dried  up,  and  the  kings  of  the 


-  2  Chron.  xxxvi,  21. 

3  Joseph.  Aiitiq.  lib  xi,  c.  8.     Tims  liicy  kept  their  Sabbatical  years  in  tlie 
times  of  the  Maccabees.    1  M.icc.  vi,  49,  53, 

4  Jostpli.  de  Bello  Judiac.  lib.  ii,  c.  19.  o  Id.  lib.  vi,  c.  19. 
c  Id  ibid.                         '  Luke  xxi,  24.  *  Josli.  i. 

9  Chap,  u,  1 ;  Numb.  xxii.  I.  '  Josh,  ii,  1. 

-Yer.  2— 24.                 ^  Ver.  11.  <  Ver.  9. 


BOOK  XII.  HISTORY  CONNECTED.  215 

Amorites  on  the  other  side  of  Jordan  were  conquered  and  de- 
stroyed;* or  whether  God  had  been  pleased  to  give  her  any- 
special  direction  to  entertain  the  spies,  in  obeying  which  she 
was  to  save  her  family  from  ruin.  However,  the  book  of 
Joshua  is  but  a  short  account  of  what  the  Israelites  did,  and 
of  what  happened  to  them  whilst  they  were  under  the  com- 
mand of  their  leader  of  that  name ;  and  we  may  suppose,  that 
many  circumstances,  attending  some  facts  recorded  in  it,  were 
perhaps  registered  by  some  other  hands,  and  afterwards  re- 
lated more  at  large  in  other  books  which  are  now  lost.''  The 
writer  of  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews  says  of  Rahab,  that.  By 
faith  she  perished  not  with  them  that  believed  not,  when 
she  had  received  the  spies  with  peace.''  And  if  we  compare 
what  she  did  with  the  actions  of  other  persons  mentioned  with 
her  by  the  sacred  writer,  as  influenced  by  a  like  faith,  we  must 
judge  of  her,  that  she  had  received  some  command  from  God, 
and  that  she  acted  in  obedience  to  it.  By  faith  Noah  being 
warned  of  God  of  things  not  seen  as  yet,  moved  with  fear  ^ 
prepared  an  ark  to  the  saving  of  his  house.^  He  received 
an  express  revelation,  that  the  world  was  to  perish  by  water, 
and  was  instructed  by  God  how  he  might  save  himself  and 
family.^  He  believed  what  God  revealed  to  him,  made  an  ark 
in  obedience  to  the  orders  which  were  given  him,  and  by 
thus  believing,  and  acting  according  to  his  belief,  he  saved 
himself  and  family  from  perishing.  In  like  manner,  Rahab 
undoubtedly  was  informed  of  God's  will,  by  some  revelation, 
and  acted  in  obedience  to  it,  or  she  could  not  have  been  an 
instance  of  that  faith  which  the  inspired  writer  treats  of,  in 
the  chapter  where  she  is  mentioned.  Had  she  proceeded  upon 
a  general  report,  or  had  she  inquired  and  been  assured,  upon 
the  best  information,  that  the  people  who  were  about  invading 
her  country,  had  been  wonderfully  raised  up  and  preserved 
by  the  miraculous  power  of  God,  and  that  they  were  likely 
to  conquer  and  destroy  all  who  would  not  submit  to  them; 
and  been  hence  induced  to  think,  that  it  would  be  prudent 
for  her  to  ingratiate  herself  with  them,  if  possibly  she  might 
thereby  save  herself  and  family  from  ruin;  all  this,  I  think, 
would  not  have  justified  her  conduct,  but  her  concealing  the 
spies  upon  these  motives  would  have  been  a  treachery  to  her 
country,  and  might  at  last  have  proved  a  vain,  as  well  as 
wicked  action;  for  unless  she  certainly  knew  that  God  de- 
signed to  give  the  Israelites  possession  of  Jericho,  his  hav- 
ing hitherto  protected  them  could  be  no  argument,  that 
they  would  be  enabled  to  destroy  every  city  which  they 
might  have  a  mind  to  attack  and  depopulate.  But  if  the  de- 
sign of  God  towards  the  inhabitants  of  Canaan  had  been  made 


'  Joshua  ii,  10.  6  Chap,  x,  13,  '  Heb.  xi,  31 . 

8  Ver.  7.     The  word  is  6w\«C»iQ«f.  '  Ibid. 

'  Gen.  vi,  13, 14,  &c. 


216  SACRED  AND  PROFANE  BOOK  XII. 

known  to  the  king  and  people  of  Jericho,  and  he  and  they 
had  been  sufficiently  warned  to  save  themselves  from  the  de- 
struction which  was  coming  upon  them,  if  they  would  not 
obey,  but  upon  their  refusal,  if  Rahab  believed,  and  obediently 
acted  according  to  what  was  required  of  her,  her  whole  be- 
haviour will  stand  clear  of  every  imputation.  Now  this  ap- 
pears to  me  to  have  been  her  case  ;  Rahab  perished  not  with 
them  that  believed  not  ;^  the  Greek  words  are,  not  toirs 
ortifotj,  with  the  unbelievers,  but  rot?  artfi^jjuaai,  that  is,  with 
them  who  were  disobedient?  But  how  can  the  inhabitants  of 
Jericho  be  said  to  have  been  disobedient,  if  God  had  required 
nothing  of  them?  Some  sufficient  information  both  they  and 
Rahab  must  particularly  have  had,  or  they  could  not  have 
been  condemned  as  disobedient,  refusing  to  obey  what  they 
were  directed  to;  nor  could  she  have  been  an  instance  of  one 
who  was  saved  by  her  faith,  i.  e.  by  believing  and  acting  ac- 
cording to  the  will  of  God,  made  known  to  her.  The  writer 
of  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews  suggests  nothing  which  contra- 
dicts any  fact  recorded  in  Joshua;  but  by  mentioning  Rahab's 
case,  it  is  evident,  that  there  were  some  circumstances  attend- 
ing it,  which  in  Joshua  are  not  recounted.  Admit  these  cir- 
cumstances, and  her  behaviour  is  clear  of  every  appearance  of 
a  crime,  nay,  it  is  just  and  commendable;  and  the  writer  of 
the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews  needed  not  to  have  made  Rahab 
an  instance  of  the  faith  he  was  treating  of,  if  he  had  not  suffi- 
cient grounds  for  what  he  intimates  about  her;  especially 
when  he  had  so  many  illustrious  patterns  in  his  mind,  as  not 
to  have  room  particularly  to  treat  about  many  of  them."  Thus, 
after  all,  what  our  modern  reasoners  think  they  have  to  in- 
sinuate against  Rahab,  as  guilty  of  a  treachery  to  her  country, 
is  but  an  unjust  accusation,  founded  upon  a  partial  view  of 
the  circumstances  attending  what  she  did,  and  the  motive? 
she  had  to  do  it. 

The  day  after  the  return  of  the  spies  from  Jericho,  early  in 
the  morning,  Joshua  removed  the  camp  to  the  banks  of  Jor- 
dan,^ where  they  halted  for  three  days.^  After  these  three 
days  the  proper  officers  instructed  the  people  how  they  were 
to  pass  the  river,  according  to  the  directions  which  God  had 
given;'  and  on  the  next  day  the  w\^ters  of  Jordan  were  mi- 
raculously divided;  so  that  the  Israelites  marched  through 
the  channel  on  dry  ground.^  They  were  near  a  whole  day 
in  their  march  through  the  river,  and  made  their  passage 
through  it  on  the  tenth  day^  of  the  first  month  of  the  year; 
and  it  is  easy  to  adjust  the  particular  transactions,  mentioned 
from  the  beginning  of  the  month  unto  this  tenth  day,  to  the 
several  days  to  which  they  belonged.    On  the  first  day  of  the 


::  Heb.  ubi  sup.  »  1  Pet.  iii,20.  •*  Heb.  xi,  32. 

5  Joshua  iii,  1.  «  Ver.  2.  ■   Ver.  3,  &.c. 

1  Ver.  16,  &c.  "  Cliap.  iv,  19. 


BOOK  XII.  HISTORY  CONNECTED.  217 

month  Joshua  sent  spies  to  Jnrioho,  and  the  king  of  Jericho 
ordered  a  search  for  them  the  very  night  they  came  thither.^ 
Rahab,  before  they  went  to  sleep,  conferred  with  them,  and 
let  them  down  out  of  the  city  from  the  window  of  her  house.^ 
They  hid  themselves  in  the  mountain  for  tTnree  days,^  and 
therefore  came  to  Joshua  on  the  evening  of  the  fourth  day. 
On  the  fifth  day  of  the  month  the  camp  removed  from  Shit- 
tim  to  Jordan. "^  After  three  days,  or  on  the  ninth  day,  the 
officers  went  through  thehost^  to  instruct  the  people  for  going 
over  the  river,  and  on  the  morrow  they  were  to  see  the  won- 
ders which  the  Lord  designed  to  do  among  them  f  and  ac- 
cordingly, on  the  tenth  day  of  the  month,  the  waters  were 
divided  and  they  passed  over  Jordan. 

When  all  the  people  were  clean  passed  over  Jordan,  God 
commanded  Joshua  to  send  twelve  men,  one  out  of  each  tribe, 
back  to  the  place,  where  the  priests  who  bare  the  ark  stood 
in  the  midst  of  the  river,^  and  to  order  each  man  to  take  upon 
his  shoulders  a  stone  out  of  the  river,  and  bring  it  on  shore 
with  him  f  and  on  the  next  day  Joshua  pitched  these  stones 
in  Gilgal,^  for  a  monument,  to  perpetuate  to  future  genera- 
tions a  remembrance  of  the  waters  of  Jordan  being  miracu- 
lously divided  for  the  Israelites  marching  through  the  river 
into  Canaan.'  The  ninth  verse  of  this  chapter  seems  to  inti- 
mate, that  besides  the  twelve  stones  which  were  pitched  in 
Gilgal,  Joshua  set  up  also  twelve  other  stones  in  the  midst  of 
the  river.  The  LXX^  and  the  Chaldee  Paraphrast  took  the 
text  in  this  sense ;^  but  the  Syriac^  and  Arabic  translators^ 
thought  otherwise;  and  Josephus  seems  to  have  had  no  notion 
of  any  more  than  one  monument  set  up  on  this  occasion.^ 
We  read  of  no  command  given  to  Joshua  to  erect  any  in  the 
midst  of  the  river ;  and  if  he  really  designed  any  thing  of  this 
nature,  what  would  twelve  stones,  no  bigger  than  such  as  a 
man  could  carry,  have  signified,  if  they  had  been  laid  upon 
one  another  in  the  channel?  When  the  waters  of  Jordan  re- 
turned to  their  place,  and  flowed  over  all  his  banks,  as  they 
did  before,''  such  a  monument  would  have  been  washed  away 
by  them.  The  Hebrew  words  do  indeed  imply,  that  Joshua 
set  up  twelve  stones  in  the  midst  of  Jordan,  in  the  place 
where  the  feet  of  the  priests,  which  bare  the  ark  of  the  cove- 


1  Joshua  ii,  2.  -  Ver.  8.  3  Ver.  22. 

4  Chap,  iii,  1.  5  Vcr.  2.  6  Ver.  5. 

7  Chap,  iv,  1—3.  «  Ver.  5.  9  Ver.  8,  20. 

1  Ver.  7,  21—24. 

2  Es">i^8  iTe  I^fl-BC  n'-tt  uxKa;  JaJiK-x  wSuc  iv  autcu  Tai  IcfJ'xvn,  &c.    Versio  LXX, 
Grxc. 

3  Vid.  Targ.  Jonathan,  in  loc. 

4  Lapides,  inquum,  duodecim  ercxerunt,  quos  tulerunt  e  medio  Jordani^ 
desiib  penibiis  sacerdotum.     Versio  Syriac.  in  loc. 

5  The  Arabic  version  leaves  out  the  ninth  verse. 

6  Vid.  Joseph.  Antiq.  Jud.  lib.  i,  c.  4. 
'  Joshua  iv,  IS. 

Vol.  III.  E  e 


218  SACRED  AND  PROFANE  BOOK  XII, 

nani,  stood;"  but  I  would  submit  it  to  the  judgment  of  the 
learned,  whether  a  small  mistake  of  ancient  copyists  may  not 
be  supposed  to  have  happened  in  this  passage;  pTH  pmn  be 
tok  ha  Jarden,  does  indeed  signify  in  the  midst  of  Jordan  ; 
but  if  the  text  vas  originally  written,  not  pmn  be  tok,  but  pino 
'mittok,  tb.e  piacc  will  have  quite  a  contrary  meaning.  The 
mistake  of  one  single  letter,  the  writing  2  instead  of  0  before 
the  word  pin  tok,  might  happen,  and  escape  the  correction  of 
the  transcribers.  And  if  we  make  this  little  emendation,  the 
verse  will  run  thus:  and  Joshua  set  vp  twelve  stones  from 
out  0/  the  midst  of  Jordan,  from  under  the  station  of  the 
feet  of  the  priests  who  carried  the  ark  f  and  hints  only  what 
is  repeated  more  fully  towards  the  close  of  the  chapter,  that 
Joshua  set  up  in  Gilgal  those  twelve  stones  which  were  taken 
up  out  of  Jordan.  The  words  which  end  this  ninth  verse, 
and  they  are  there  unto  this  day,  were  originally  no  part 
of  the  text  of  Joshua,  but  rather  a  remark  made  in  some  later 
age  in  a  MS.  of  this  book.  We  find  several  of  these  in  the 
sacred  pages,^  which,  having  not  been  duly  kept  distinct,  are 
handed  down  to  us  as  if  they  were  indeed  part  of  the  text  in 
the  places  where  they  are  added. 

Some  modern  writers  mention  the  river  Jordan  as  a  stream 
of  no  very  considerable  breadth  or  depth ;  and  from  their  no- 
tion, it  may  be  thought  that  a  miracle  could  not  be  much 
wanted  to  enable  the  Israelites  to  get  over  it.  Sandys  says, 
that  it  is  "  not  navigably  deep,  nor  above  eight  fathoms  broad, 
nor  (except  by  accident)  heady."^  But  I  would  observe:  1. 
That  the  sacred  books  do  constantly  represent  this  river  as 
not  fordable,  except  at  some  particular  places,  made  probably 
by  art,  that  the  countries  on  each  side  the  water  might  have 
a  communication.  Thus  the  spies,  who  were  sent  by  Joshua 
to  Jericho,  when  pursued  by  the  searchers,  are  not  repre- 
sented to  have  found  any  way  to  return  to  the  camp  but  by 
the  fords  of  Jordan.^  In  like  manner  when  Ehud  and  the 
Israelites  had  taken  the  fords  of  Jordan,  not  a  man  of  the 
Moabites  could  pass  the  river.'*  And  thus  the  Gileadites  en- 
trapped the  Ephraimites.  They  took  the  passages  of  Jordan, 
and  then  the  fugitives  of  Ephraim,  having  no  way  to  get  over 
the  river,  fell  into  their  hands.*  Elijah  passed  over  Jordan 
Avith  Elisha,  near  the  place  where  the  Israelites  entered  Ca- 
naan,^ and  Elisha  repassed  it  when  Elijah  was  taken  from 

**  The  Hebrew  words  of  the  test  are,  Josh,  v,  9. 

]n«  ^Ntpj  a>:n3n  'hi-\  3xd  nnn  ^yyrs  pina  jiipin^  O'pn  o'un  m^jr  o'n»i 

•nnan 

a  If  the  learned  reader  thinks  the  prefix  d  necessary  before  the  word  nnn, 
we  may  reasonably  suppose  that  the  copyist,  having  made  the  mistake  above 
mentioned,  here  dropped  this  letter. 

'   See  I'rideaux's  Connect,  vol.  i,  book  v. 

2  Sandy's  Travels,  book  iii,  p.  141.  '  Joshua  ii,  2, 

<  Judges  iii,  28.  s  Chap,  xii,  5. 

'  2  Kings  ii,  4,  5,  7,  8,  13,  15. 


BOOK  XII.  HISTORY  CONNECTED.  219 

him ;  but  a  miracle  was  wrought  by  both  of  them  in  order  to 
their  getting  over,^  which  undoubtedly  they  neither  would 
have  attempted,  nor  would  God  have  enabled  them  to  per- 
form, if  they  could  have  passed  over  in  that  place  without  it. 
But,  2.  We  have  modern  testimonies  sufficient  to  refute  any 
one  who  should  imagine  that  the  river  Jordan  had  been  an 
inconsiderable  stream,  easily  forded  in  any  part  of  it.  Sandys 
took  his  view  of  it  at  a  place  where,  in  length  of  time,  the 
channel  was  landed  up,  and  the  flow  of  water  nothing  so  great 
as  it  had  been  in  former  ages.*  Thevenot  went  to  or  near 
the  place  where  the  Israelites  passed  over,  and  describes  it  to 
be  "  deep,  half  as  broad  as  the  Seine  at  Paris,  and  very  rapid  ;"^ 
and,  according  to  Maundrell,  the  river  is  hereabouts  "  twenty 
yards  over  within  its  channel,  deeper  than  a  man's  height, 
and  runs  with  a  current,  that  there  is  no  swimming  against 
it."^  But  whatever  be  the  now.  state  of  the  river  Jordan, 
how  obvious  is  it,  3.  That  all  the  parts  of  our  globe  are  liable 
to  great  alterations,  and  the  course  of  rivers  admit  of  many 
changes  in  the  revolutions  of  ages.  Jordan  was  a  much  lar- 
ger river  than  it  now  is,  when  the  Israelites  came  into  Ca- 
naan. In  Pliny's  time  it  filled  a  larger  channel  than  it  now 
runs  in;2  and  when  Strabo  wrote,  vessels  of  burden  were  navi- 
gated in  it.^  But,  4,  Jordan  overfloweth  all  his  banks  all 
the  time  of  harvest  ;^  and  the  time  of  .harvest  was  in  this 
first  month,  when  the  Israelites  entered  Canaan.^  Maundrell 
observes,  that  upon  this  flow  of  Jordan,  the  waters  had  an- 
ciently covered  a  large  strand,  and  washed  up  to  an  outer 
bank  about  a  furlong  from  the  common  channel,^  At  this 
time  there  could  be  no  passing  it,  and  therefore  the  Israelites 
being  now  able  to  get  over  was  very  extraordinary;  and  it  is 
no  wonder,  that  when  the  kings  of  the  Amorites,  on  the  west 
side  of  Jordan,  and  all  the  kings  of  the  Canaanites  by  the  sea, 
heard  how  the  waters  were  dried  up  from  before  the  children 
of  Israel,  their  heart  melted,  and  there  was  no  spirit  in  them;' 
because,  whatever  might  have  been  attempted  when  the  river 
ran  in  its  ordinary  channel,  the  passage  of  the  Israelites  was 
at  the  time  of  a  known  and  annual  flood,  when  the  waters 
flowed  to  a  great  height,  and  an  attempt  to  get  over  them 
was,  naturally  speaking,  impossible. 

After  the  Israelites  were  over  the  river,  Joshua  encamped 
at  Gilgal,  on  the  east  side  of  Jericho,  where  God  directed 
him  to  revive  the  rite  of  circumcision  f  for  the  Israelites  had 

'  2  Kings  ii,  4,  5,  7,  8,  13,  15.  «  Sandy's  Travels,  p.  197. 

9  Thevenol's  Travels,  p.  193.  '  Journey  from  Aleppo,  p.  83. 

-  Amnis,  quatenus  patitur  locorum  situs,  ambitiosus.  Plin.  Nat.  Hist,  lib 
r,  c.  19. 

3  Vid.  Strab.  Geogr.  lib.  xvi,  p.  7SS. 

*  Joshua  iii,  15  ;  1  Chron.  xii,  15;  Ecclus.  xxiv,  26. 

"5  See  1  Chron.  xii,  15. 

-*  Maundrell's  Journey  from  Aleppo,  ubi  sup. 

'  Joshua  V,  1.  "  »  Ver.  2. 


320  SACRED  AND  PROFANE  BOOK  XIL 

circumcised  none  of  their  children  who  were  horn  after  the 
exit  out  of  Egypt,  until  this  time.^     What  occasioned  this 
neglect  is  not  said  expressly,  but  it  is  easy  to  guess.     The 
covenant  \vhich  the  Israelites  made  with  God  in  Horeb,  was 
to  do  and  observe  all  the  things  which  the  Lord  should  com- 
mand them,'  and  they  were  to  be  strictly  careful  not  make 
any  thing  a  rite  of  their  religion,  which  the  Lord  commanded 
them  not.^     Therefore,  though  God  had  ordered  Abraham  to 
circumcise  himself  and  children,   and  to  enjoin  his  posterity 
to  use  this  rite,  yet  when  God  was  giving  the  Israelites  a 
new  law,  in  the  manner  which  he  now  did  by  the  hand  of 
Moses,  I  think  they  could  not  warrantably  take  any  rite,  how 
ancient  or  usual  soever,  as  a  part  of  it,   unless   God   himself 
gave  them  a  command  for  it.     God  indeed  had  given  them  a 
command  for  circumcision;  for  we  find  it  among  the  laws 
given  after  the  death^  of  Nadab  and  x\bihu,  the  sons  of  Aaron, 
who  were  killed  by  fire  from  the  Lord,  for  ofiering  incense 
in  a  manner  which  he  commanded  them  not."*     This  incident 
must  have  admonished  the  whole  camp  to  be  careful  to  obey 
God's  voice,  and  not  mingle  their  own    fancies  in  the  per- 
formance of  any  of  his  institutions;  nnd  the  Acngeance,  which 
had  so  lately   fallen  upon  the  two  sous   of  Aaron,  seems  to 
have  given  them  a  due  caution   in  this  matter.     Though  the 
Passover  was  a  feas^  which  tlicy  were  commanded  to  keep 
to  the  Lord  throughout  their  generations,  by  an  ordinance 
for  ever  f  yet  we  see  they  did  not  attempt  their  second  cele- 
bration of  it,  without  an  express  command  from  God  for  it,^ 
nor  venture  to  proceed  in  a  case  of  doubt,  which  arose  about 
the  men  who  were  defiled  by  the  dead  body  of  a  man,   but 
stood  still,  until  Moses  heard  what  the  Lord  would  command 
concerning  them.^     In  like  manner,  as  the  law  for  circumci- 
sion required  the  males  to  be  circumcised  at  eight  days  old;* 
and  was  not  given  until  within  the  second  year  of  the  exit, 
when  there  must  have  been  in  the  camp   great  numbers  of 
children  uncircumcised,  who  were  past  the  day   of  age,  at 
which  this  rite  was  appointed  to  be  performed,  great  matter 
of  doubt  must  have  arisen,  when  or  how  these  were  to  be  put 
under  the  law ;    and  the  Israelites  not  receiving  directions 
from  God  how  to  proceed  herein,  was,  I  think,  the  reason 
that  they  stood  still  in  this  matter.     The  critics  and  annota- 
tors  abound  in  assigning  reasons  for  the  omission  of  circum- 
cision, in  which  the  Israelites  had  lived  hitherto,^  but  I  think 
they  arc  not  happy  in  assigning  tlie  true  one.     We  find  no 
fault  imputed  to  the  Israelites  for  their  neglect  of  it;  and  God 


s  Josliua  V,  5,  7. 

«  Exod.  xix,  8;  xxiv,  3,  7;  Deut.  v,  27;  xxvl,  17. 

2  See  book  xi,  p.  165.  3  Levit.  xii,  3.  *  Chap,  x,  1. 

6  Exod.  xii,  14.  6  Numb,  ix,  1,  2,  3.  ^  Ver.  6,  7,  S. 

3  Levit.  xii,  3.  »  Vid.  Pool.  Synops.  Critic,  in  loc. 


BOOK  XII.  HISTORY  CONNECTED.  221 

now  rolled  away  the  reproach  of  Egypt  from,  off  them  ;^  so 
that  the  Israelites  had  long  esteemed  it  a  reproach  to  them, 
that  they  did  not  practise  this  rite  ;  hut  their  misfortune  was, 
God  had  not  yet  given  them  orders  how  or  when  to  begin  it, 
and  therefore  they  were  forced  to  live  in  an  omission  of  it. 
Some  writers  misunderstand  the  expression  here  made  use  of, 
A  state  of  uncircumcision  is  called  the  reproach  of  Egypt; 
that  is,  say  they,  the  Egyptians  thought  it  a  reproach  to  them 
who  lived  in  it.  It  is  indeed  necessary  to  take  the  words  in 
this  sense,  if  we  would  infer  from  them,  that  circumcision 
was  originally  an  Egyptian  rite,  and  that  the  Hebrews  learned 
from  them  the  use  of  it.  This  is  indeed  a  favourite  point 
with  these  writers,  but  I  have  already  proved  that  it  had  no 
foundation;^  and  I  would  here  observe,  that  the  true  meaning 
of  the  expression,  the  reproach  of  Egypt,  is  directly  contrary 
to  the  sense  which  these  writers  would  give  to  it.  My  re- 
proach, my  shame,  my  dishonour,^  do  all  signify,  not  what  I 
may  have  to  impute  to  others,  but  what  others  may  object  to 
me.  In  like  manner,  reproach  of  Egypt,  or  Egyptian  re- 
proach, signifies  not  what  the  Egyptians  might  think  a  disre- 
pute to  others,  but  what  other  nations  esteemed  a  blemish 
and  defect  in  them.  We  find  an  expression  of  like  import 
thus  used  by  one  of  the  most  elegant  classics.  The  swallow 
is  said  to  be,  unhappy  bii'd, 

Cecropix  domus 

^tennim  opprobrim,''  .... 

the  everlasting  reproach  of  the  house  of  Cecrops,  not  as  hint- 
ing any  thing,  for  which  the  descendants  of  Cecrops  might 
reproach  others;  but  on  account  of  facts,  which  were  a  lasting 
dishonour  to  this  family.  Not  the  Egyptians,  therefore,  at 
this  time,  but  the  Israelites,  thought  uncircumcision  a  disrepu- 
table thing,  and  accounted  all  nations  profane,  who  did  not 
use  this  institution ;  and  the  Egyptians  at  this  time  not  ob- 
serving this  rite,  this,  in  the  esteem  of  the  Israelites,  was 
their  reproach,  was  a  thing  opprobrious,  or  a  disgrace  to 
them.  Therefore,  when  God  here  appointed  the  Israelites  to 
be  circumcised,  he  rolled  away  the  reproach  of  Egypt  from 
off  them ;  he  removed  from  them  that  state  of  uncircumcision, 
which  they  thought  an  infamous  defect  in  the  Egyptians.  It 
may  be  here  queried,  whether  the  Egyptians  could  at  this 
time  be  an  uncircumcised  nation,  if,  as  I  have  formerly  sup- 
posed, they  received  the  rite  of  circumcision  very  near  as 
early  as  the  times  of  Abraham.^  But  I  think  an  answer 
hereto  is  not  difficult.  The  Pastors  over-ran  Egypt  some 
time  before  the  birth  of  Moses,  and  overturned  the  ancient 

1  .Toshua  V,  9.  2  See  vol.  i,  book  v,  p.  189. 

■<  Gen.  XXX,  23  ;  2  Sam.  sin,  13;  Psal.  Ixlx,  19. 

*  Hor.  Carm.  lib.  iv,  ode  xli.  ''  See  vol.  i,  book  v,  p.  189. 


222  SACRED  AND  PUGFANE       BOOK  Xll. 

establishment  in  those  parts  which  they  conquered;^  and 
many  points,  both  of  the  policy  and  religion  of  Egypt,  were 
neglected  by  them.  These  Pastors  were,  I  think,  the  Horites, 
who  fled  from  the  children  of  Esau  out  of  the  land  of  Edom." 
They  were  an  uncircumcised  people:  and  as  they  took  all 
methods  they  could  think  proper,  when  they  had  got  posses- 
sion of  the  land,  to  oppress  the  ancient  inhabitants,  and  to  es- 
tablish themselves,  it  is  not  likely  they  should  pay  so  much 
regard  to  the  institutions  of  the  Egyptian  religion,  as  once  to 
think  of  submitting  to  a  rite,  the  operation  of  which  would 
for  a  time  disable  them  for  war,  and  give  the  Egyptians  an 
opportunity  to  attack  and  destroy  them.^  Here,  therefore, 
we  may  suppose  a  neglect  of  circumcision  introduced  among 
the  Egyptians.  The  Israelites  were  in  Egypt  before  these 
Pastors  invaded  the  land,  and  though  they  suffered  great  op- 
pressions from  their  tyranny,^  yet  they  did  not,  in  compliance 
with  these  their  new  masters,  part  with  this  rite  of  their  re- 
ligion, and  it  might,  in  their  opinion,  be  a  matter  of  particular 
reproach  to  the  Egyptians,  that  they  had  not  only  fallen  un- 
der the  power  of  foreign  conquerors,  but  in  compliance  to 
them  had  altered  and  corrupted  their  religion.  There  are 
two  points  to  be  remarked  upon  the  revival  of  circumcision 
by  Joshua.  The  one,  that  the  Israelites  must  hereupon  have 
a  convincing  demonstration,  that  all  their  fathers  were  to  a 
man  dead,  against  whom  God  had  denounced,  that  their  car- 
cases should  fall  in  the  wilderness;^  for  upon  this  renewal  of 
circumcision,  none  having  been  circumcised  from  the  time  of 
the  exit  until  now,^  it  became  evident  how  many  of  the  camp 
had  been  in  Egypt,  and  by  computing  the  age  of  those  who 
had  been  there,  it  would  appear,  that  there  were  no  persons 
then  alive,  except  Caleb  and  Joshua,  who  were  twenty  years 
old,  when  the  poll  was  taken  in  the  year  after  the  exit.^  The 
other  point  is,  that  as  the  Israelites  were  now  in  an  enemy's 
country,  in  the  neighbourhood  of  a  powerful  and  populous 
city,  and  could  not  be  secure  any  one  day,  that  the  Canaanites 
might  not  attempt  to  march  against  them ;  if  God  had  not  re- 
quired it,  Joshua  could  never  have  thought  this  a  proper  time 
to  disable'"  any  part  of  the  camp  by  circumcising  them,  and 
therefore  that  he  most  certainly  had  a  command  from  God  for 
what  he  did  in  this  matter. 

On  the  fourteenth  day  of  the  month  at  even,  the  Israelites 
kept  the  Passover  in  the  plains  of  Jericho,*  and  on  the  fifteenth 
day,  they  began  the  feast  of  unleavened  bread,*^  according  to 

«  Vol.  ii.  book  vii,  p.  153,  ad  fin.  5,  in  Just.  "  Vol.  ii,  book  vii,  p.  155. 

8  The  Sheclicmites  were  destroyed  by  the  sons  of  Jacob,  when  they  weif 
sore,  after  having  been  circumcised.     Gen.  xxxiv,  25. 

9  Vol.  ii,  book  vii,  p.  156.  '  Numb.  xiv. 

2  Joshua  V,  5.  3  Numb,  xxvi,  64,  65, 

4  See  Gen.  xxxiv,  25.  ^  Joshua  v,  10. 

c  Ver.  11. 


BOOK  XII.  HISTORY  CONNECTED.  223 

.the  orders  they  had  received  for  keeping  it.^  As  it  was  now 
wheat  harvest  in  the  land  of  Canaan,  they  reaped  of  the  cornj 
which  was  ripe  in  the  fields,  and  made  their  unleavened  cakes 
with  it,*  and  God  having  now  brought  them  into  the  country 
where  provisions  were  plentiful,  the  miraculous  food,  which 
he  had  hitherto  given  them,  ceased ;  for  on  the  sixteenth  day, 
and  from  thence  forwards,  there  fell  no  manna,^  The  com- 
mentators suggest  a  difficulty  in  determining  what  produce  of 
the  land  the  Israelites  made  use  of  They  remark,  that  the 
sheaf  of  the  first  fruits  of  the  harvest  was  to  be  waved  before 
the  Lord,  and  a  day  set  apart  for  the  waving  it,  and  perform- 
ing the  offerings  which  were  to  attend  it,  before  it  was  lawful 
to  eat  of  the  fruits  of  the  ground,^  and  the  Israelites  not  having 
performed  this  injunction,  they  contend  that  they  used  in 
their  feast  of  unleavened  bread,  not  of  the  corn  then  growing 
and  ripe  in  the  fields,  but  rather  of  corn  of  a  former  year's 
produce.^  Our  translators  favour  this  opinion,  and  render  the 
place.  They  did  eat  of  the  old  corn  of  the  land :  and  Dru- 
sius  and  Bonfrerius  thought  they  could  conjecture,  how  a  suf- 
ficient supply  of  such  old  corn  might  be  had  for  them.^  Dru- 
sius  imagines,  that  they  found  corn  dealers  to  buy  it  of;  Bon- 
frerius, that  they  seized  upon  stores  of  corn  laid  up  by  the 
Canaanites.  But,  1.  It  seems  far  more  reasonable  to  imagine, 
that  the  Israelites  reaped  the  crop,  which  the  fields  before 
them  afforded,  than  that  they  should  either  find  stores  suffi- 
cient in  the  plains  of  Jericho,  or  merchants,  who  either  could 
or  would  produce  enough  for  the  occasions  of  such  a  nume- 
rous hostile  army.  2.  It  does  not  appear,  that  the  observance 
of  the  wave-sheaf  offering,  was  to  commence  immediately 
upon  their  entrance  into  the  land.  I  rather  think  they  be- 
gan this  performance  upon  the  first  harvest  from  their  own 
tillage;  which  seems  to  have  been  Josephus's  opinion,  for,  3. 
He  expressly  asserts,  that  the  Israelites  had  reaped  and  used 
the  crop  they  found  ripe  and  standing  in  the  fields  of  Canaan.'' 
4.  None  of  the  ancient  versions  favour  what  our  translators 
hint,  that  the  Israelites  used  here  the  old  corn  of  the  land» 
Nor,  5.  do  the  words  of  Joshua  at  all  suggest  it.  It  is  indeed 
a  common  remark  of  the  critics,  that  the  Hebrew  word  -il2;'0 
mcnabur,  here  used,  being  derived  from  the  verb,  nabar,  to 
pass,  must  necessarily  signify  the  crop,  not  of  the  present, 
but  of  the  past  year ;  but  as  this  word  occurs,  1  think,  nowhere 
in  the  Bible,  but  in  the  passage  before  us,  it  is  not  so  easy  to 
be  certain  of  its  signification.  The  verb  nabar  not  only  sig- 
nifies to  pass,  but  in  the  conjugation  pihel,  to  cause  to  be  big 


7  See  Levit.  xxiii,  6.  a  Joshua  v,  11.  9  Ver.  12. 

»  Levit.  xxiii,  10.  2  Vid  Pool.  Synops.  in  loc.  3  jhld. 

^  Joseplms's  words  are:    Ka/  tuv  <t*3-jcat  icpTct^cv  iv  iKHvat  Tee  x.'^ftai,  Truvra:; 

m      MTOK     TTIICTipOV      O-UViSilVl      V-XIM^HV ,     TOTi    fxS'UDt     iUTrCfUVTIfC ,      TOV     Ti     yUll     (rtTrA- 

tiL.uA^oyTit  tfh  xarsyaiw  e&esf^ov.     Antiq.  lib.  v,  cap,  iv. 


224  SACRED  AND  PROFANE       BOOK  Xll. 

with  young.  It  is  thus  used  in  the  book  of  Job  ;*  and  by  a 
metaphor  authorized  by  Tully^  in  a  Latin  word  of  this  signi- 
fication, [nibbe?']  may  express  to  cause  the  Earth  to  be  im- 
pregnated or  loaden  with  corn,  and  menabiir  may  be  a  noun 
derived  from  the  participle  of  this  conjugation,  and  signify 
the  burden  or  crop  upon  tlie  ground ;  and  the  suggestion  of 
the  Israelites  using  old  corn  of  a  year's  growth,  will  thus  ap- 
pear to  have  no  foundation  in  the  Hebrew  text  at  all. 

Upon  the  Israelites  encamping  on  the  plains  of  Jericho,  the 
inhabitants  of  that  city  shut  up  their  gates,  and  kept  close 
within  their  walls.^  The  cities  of  the  Canaanites  were  en- 
compassed with  walls  so  high,  as  to  be  said  to  be  fenced  up 
to  Heaven  f  and  men  had  not  yet  invented  proper  engines  of 
war  for  the  assaulting  such  towns,  so  as  to  get  possession  of 
them.  We  shall  find,  ages  after  these  times,  cities  impregna- 
ble to  the  greatest  armies,  by  the  strength  and  height  of  their 
walls.  The  city  of  Troy  could  never  have  been  taken  by 
the  Greeks  without  a  stratagem,  and  Joshua  was  obliged  to 
invent  an  artifice,  in  order  to  gain  entrance  into  Ai.^  The 
men  of  Jericho,  having  shut  up  their  city,  might  reasonably 
think  themselves  secure  from  the  Israelites;  and  Joshua  and 
his  army  could  have  no  hopes  of  reducing  them,  except  by 
starving  them  into  a  surrender,  unless  they  could  allure  them 
to  make  sallies,  and  thereby  get  an  opportunity  of  beating 
back  their  forces  to  the  city,  and  entering  with  them.  But 
here  the  Lokd  appeared  unto  Joshua,  in  the  form  of  a  man, 
with  a  drawn  sword  in  his  hand.^  The  person,  who  now  ap- 
peared, called  himself  the  prince,  or  leader,  or  captain  of  the 
host  of  the  LoRD,^  a  very  proper  appellation  for  that  divine 
person,  who  had  frequetly  appeared  unto  Abraham,  Isaac, 
Jacob,  and  Moses ;  for  the  Lord  of  Hosts  is  his  name^  is 
one  of  his  titles.  That  the  person,  who  at  this  time  appeared 
to  Joshua,  was  not  an  angel,  but  this  God  of  Israel,  seems  evi- 
dent from  the  worship  which  Joshua  paid  him,^  and  from  his 
requiring  the  same  regard  to  be  had  to  his  presence,  as  he  be- 
fore demanded  from  Moses,  when  he  called  himself  the  God 
of  Abraham,  the  God  of  Isaac,  and  the  God  of  Jacob.^  Accord- 
ingly, Joshua  gives  him  the  incommunicable''  name  of  God, 
calling  him  Jehovah,  in  his  relation  of  what  he  said  to  him." 
He  told  Joshua,  that  he  had  given  Jericho  into  his  hand,  and 
the  king  thereof,  and  the  mighty  men  of  valour  f  he  instructed 

'•  Jobxxi,  10. 

c  Tully  tluis  uses  the  word  gravidata.  He  sajs,  Quod  si  ca,  qujc  a  terra 
stirpibiiscontinentur,  arte  natuix  vivunt  et  vigen't ;  profecto  ipsa  terra  eadem 
vi  continetur  et  arte  naturx,quippe  quae,  gravidata  seminibus,  omnia  pariat, 
et  fiindat  ex  sese.    De  Nat.  Deorum,  lib.  ii,  c.  33. 

7  Joshua  vi,  1.  »  Deut.  ix,  1.  ^  Joshua  viii. 

«  Chap.  V,  13.  •  Vcr.  14.  3  See  Jer.  x.  If.. 

•»  Joshua  V,  14.  5  Ib'd,  15;  Exod,  iii,  5,  6. 

0  See  vol.  ii,  book  ix;  Isaiah  xiii,  8. 

■  Joshua  vi,  2.  s  ibij 


BOOK  XII.  HISTORY  CONNECTED.  225 

him  what  he  required  of  the  Israelites,  to  express  their  reli- 
ance on  his  promise.^  When  they  had  for  seven  days  marched 
round  Jericho  in  the  manner  which  the  Lord  had  directed, 
the  walls  of  Jericho,  without  any  assault,  fell  down  flat  upon 
the  ground ;  then  they  entered  the  town  and  sacked  it,  and 
put.  all  the  inhabitants,  man,  woman,  and  child,  to  the  sword, 
except  Rahab  and  her  family,  and  destroyed  all  the  cattle,  and 
hurnt  the  city;  only  the  silver  and  gold,  and  the  vessels  of 
brass  and  iron,  they  reserved,  according  to  the  directions 
which  had  been  given  them.^  Joshua  then  pronounced  that 
man  to  be  accursed,  who  should  ever  attempt  to  rebuild  Jeri- 
cho, and  prophesied,  that  he  should  lay  the  foundation  thereof 
in  the  first-born,  and  in  its  youngest  son  set  up  its  gates.^ 
This  prophecy  was  remarkabl}'-  fulfilled  above  five  hundred 
years  after  in  the  days  of  Ahab;  for  in  his  days  Hiel  the  Beth- 
elite  built  Jericho,  and  his  eldest  son  Abiram  died,  when  he 
laid  the  foundation,  and  his  youngest  son  Serug  died  at  his 
setting  up  the  gates. ^  The  taking  of  Jericho  was  much  noised 
throughout  all  the  country,''  and  the  Israelites  prepared  to  at- 
tack Ai,  a  neighbouring  city,  but  the  detachments  appointed 
for  this  service  were  entirely  routed.^  Whereupon  Joshua 
and  the  elders  of  Israel  consulted  God,  and  were  informed, 
that  a  transgression  had  been  committed  in  the  sacking  of 
Jericho,  for  which  they  suffered  this  punishment;*^  and  upon 
inquiry,  Achan  the  son  of  Carmi,  of  the  tribe  of  Judah,  was 
found  to  be  the  transgressor,  and  bp  and  his  family  were  con- 
demned to  death,  and  his  substance  burned  in  the  valley  of 
Achor.  After  this  exemplary  punishment  of  Achan's  trans- 
gression, the  Israelites  soon  took  Ai,  and  destroyed  all  the  in- 
habitants of  it,  and  took  the  cattle  and  spoil  of  the  city  for 
a  prey  unto  themselves,  according  to  the  word  of  the  Lord, 
which  he  commanded  Joshua/ 

Moses  had  enjoined,  that  when  they  should  have  passed 
over  Jordan,  they  should  set  up  on  Mount  Ebal  great  stones, 
and  plaster  them  with  plaster,  and  write  the  law  upon  them  f 
and  they  were  to  build  an  altar  there  unto  the  Lord  their 
God,  and  to  offer  burnt-offei-ings  and  peace-offerings,  and  to 
celebrate  a  feast  unto  the  Lord.^  They  were  also  to  divide 
the  people,  and  to  place  six  of  the  tribes  on  Gerizim,  a  moun- 
tain opposite  to  Ebal,  and  six  on  Mount  Ebal;  and  then  the 
Levites  from  Mount  Ebal  were  to  read,  witli  a  loud  voice, 
the  curses  set  down  by  Moses  for  the  transgressions  of  the 
law,^  unto  each  of  which  the  people  were  to  answer  Amen.^ 
Then  the  blessings  promised  to  the  observance  of  the  law 
were  to  be  pronounced  from  Mount  Gerizim;^  and  hereby 

9  Joshua  vi,  3,  4,  5.  '  Ver.  16—25.  -  Ver.  26. 

3  1  Kings  xvi,  34.  ■*  Joshua  vi,  27.  ^  Chap,  vii,  5. 

6  Ver.  6—11.  7  Joshua  vii,  11—26;  viii.  1—29. 

s  Deut.  xxvli,  2,  3,  4.  9  Ver.  5,  6,  7.  »  Ver.  12, 13. 

^  Ver.  14,  &c.  3  chap,  xxviii. 

Vol.  in.  F  f 


226»  SACRED  AND  PROrAXE       BOOK  XII. 

the  Israelites  were  to  acknowledge  their  covenant  with  the 
Lord  their  God,  and  their  obligation  to  keep  his  command- 
ments.'* Joshua  being  now  come  to  the  place  where  these 
two  mountains  were  situate,  took  care  to  have  every  part  of 
what  God  had  commanded  herein  punctually  performed/ 

It  may  not  seem  at  first  sight  easy  to  determine,  what  it 
Avas  that  Joshua  here  wrote  upon  the  stones,  which  he  set  up 
on  Mount  Ebal.  The  Samaritans,  indeed,  if  what  they  assert 
might  be  admitted,  determine  the  question  very  clearly;  for 
in  their  Pentateuch,  in  the  xxth  chapter  of  Exodus,  after  the 
tenth  commandment,  they  add  these  with  other  words ;  Jlnd 
it  shall  he  tvhen  the  Lord  thy  God  shall  cause  thee  to  enter 
the  land  of  the  Canaanites,  which  thou  goest  imto,  to  pos- 
sess it,  that  thou  shall  set  tip  great  stones,  and  shall  plas- 
ter them  tvith  plaster,  and  shall  ivrite  upon  the  stones  all 
the  ivords  of  this  law,  &c.  According  to  this  account,  the 
command  for  what  was  here  to  be  done,  was  originally  given 
in  an  audible  voice  by  God  himself,  from  Mount  Sinai  to  all 
the  people;  and  what  Moses  directed  about  it  afterwards, 
must  be  understood  with  reference,  and  agreeably  to  what 
God  himself  here  first  commanded  about  it.  Accordingly, 
the  command  here  given  being,  that  the  Israelites  should 
write  upon  the  stones  all  the  words  of  this  law,  namely,  of 
the  law  just  then  published  (for  there  had  then  been  no  other 
as  yet  given,)  it  will  follow,  that  the  Decalogue,  or  Ten  Com- 
mandments, was  what  they  TverG  to  inscribe  upon  the  stones 
to  be  erected.  This  would  unquestionably  be  the  fact,  if 
what  the  Samaritans  here  insert  in  their  Pentateuch  ought  to 
be  admitted;  but  that  it  ought  not  is  most  evident;  for  Rlx)ses 
himself  expressly  testifies,  that  when  God  spake  tlic  Ten 
Commandments  out  of  the  midst  of  the  fire^  from  Mount  Si- 
nai unto  the  assembly  of  the  Israelites,  he  spake  only  the  Ten 
Commandments,  and  added  no  more;  and  consequently,  all 
that  the  Samaritans  add  here  is  a  manifest  interpolation.  And 
it  is  a  known  imputation,  which  the  Jews  have  ever  charged 
them  with,  that  they  have  tampered  with  this  place,  as  well 
as  changed  the  names  of  the  two  mountains,  Ebal  and  Geri- 
zim,  putting  Gerizim  where  Moses  wrote  Ebal,  and  Ebal 
where  Moses  wrote  Gerizim,^  in  order  to  procure  such  a 
veneration  to  Mount  Gerizim,  as  might  favour  their  choosing 
it  in  opposition  to  the  Jews  for  their  place  of  worship.  Thus 
we  have  no  information  from  the  Samaritan  Pentateuch,  about 
what  Joshua  inscribed,  or  was  directed  to  inscribe,  upon  the 
stones  set  up  on  Mount  Ebal.  The  Jewish  writers  abound  in 
fictions  upon  this  point;  some  of  whom  say,  that  Joshua  in- 
scribed the  whole  five  books  of  Moses;  nay,  they  add,  that 
he  did  it  seventy  times  over,  in  seventy  different  languages. 


*  Dent,  xxvii,  9,  10  ^  Josh  viii,  30—35. 

^  Deut.  V,  22.  ■^  See  Prideaux's  Connect,  part  i,  b.  vi; 


JJOOK  XII.  HISTORY  CONNECTED.  227 

in  order  to  leave  such  monuments  as  might  instruct  all  the 
nations  upon  Earth  in  the  law,  and  that  in  their  own  tongue. 
Thus  these  writers  were  so  far  from  seeing  any  difficulty  in 
the  query,  which  to  others  has  seemed  considerable ;  namely, 
whether  Joshua  could  find  either  stones  to  contain,  or  had 
time  enough  to  inscribe  so  large  a  transcript,  as  a  copy  of  the 
whole  five  books  of  Moses,  that  they  show  evidently,  that 
nothing  can  be  so  marvellous  but  their  imagination  can  sur- 
mount it.  If  seven  hundred,  or  seven  thousand,  had  been  as 
favourite  a  number  with  them  as  seventy,  they  would  have 
had  no  scruple  of  multiplying  the  copies  up  to  their  liumour. 
But  seventy  being  the  number  of  the  elders  of  Israel  chosen 
by  Moses,  and  appointed  by  God  to  assist  in  the  government 
of  his  people,*  they  hence  imagined  that  there  were  origi- 
nally, from  the  dispersion  of  mankind,  but  seventy  nations, 
and  seventy  difierent  languages  in  the  world ;  though  consi- 
dering that  Moses  and  the  high-priest,  joined  with  the  seven- 
t}',  made  two  more,  they  should  have  made  seventy-two  their 
darling  number,  as  it  was  afterwards,  when  Aristeas's  fiction 
about  the  Septuagint  translation  of  the  Hebrew  Scriptures  ob- 
tained amongst  them,^  Moses  tvith  the  elders  of  Israel  com- 
manded the  people,  saying,  keep  all  the  commandments 
which  I  command  you  this  day;  and  it  shall  be  on  the 
day,  tvhen  ye  shall  pass  over  Jordan  .  .  .  .,  that  thou  shall 
set  thee  tip  great  stones,  and  plaster  them  ivith  jjlaster, 
and  thou  shall  write  upon  than  all  the  ivords  of  this  law — •. 
This  was  the  command  which  Moses  gave  about  what  they 
were  to  do  at  Mount  Ebal ;  and  I  have  often  thought,  that  all 
the  words  of  this  law  might  be  the  words  of  the  law  which  he 
at  that  time  gave  them;  namely,  the  words  which  Moses  has 
set  down  in  the  xxviith  and  xxviiith  chapters  of  Deuteronomy, 
beginning  at  the  15th  verse  of  the  xxviith  chapter,  cursed  be 
the  man,  and  so  on  to  the  end  of  the  xxviiith  chapter.  That 
this  was  what  Joshua  wrote,  and  consequently  what  Moses 
had  enjoined  to  be  written,  seems  evident  to  me  from  the  ac- 
count we  have  of  Joshua's  performance^  of  this  commandment. 
Joshua  built  an  altar  unto  the  Lord  God  of  Israel,  in 
Mount  Ebal . . .  an  altar  oftvhole  stones  .  . .,  and  he  wrote 
there,  upon  the  stones,  in  the  presence^  of  the  people  {mish- 
neh  toralh  Moseh,)  i.  e.  a  copy  of  the  law  of  Moses,  certainly 
not  a  copy  of  all  the  statutes  of  the  Jewish  law;  for  the  stones 
of  the  altar  could  not  be  sufficient  to  contain  such  a  large  body 
of  institutions :  rather  he  wrote  the  several  curses  and  bless- 

8  Numbers  xi. 

9  See  Prideaux's  Connect,  part  li,  book  i.  i  Josh,  v'lii,  30—32, 
2  The  Hebrew  text  is, 

hu'voi  <ja  i>fiS  ana  "wa  nsyn  mm  T\wn  pn  o^jaNn-Sy  OB'-anaT 
i.  e.  And  he  wrote  there  upon  the  stones  a  copy  of  the  law  of  Moses,  which  he 
(J.  e.  Joshua)  wrote  (wc  should  say  iii  English,  and  he  wrote  it)  before  the  face"= 
(ia  the  presence)  of  the  children  of  Israel. 


228  SACRED  AND  PUOIANE  BOOK  XII, 

ings  which  Moses  had  charged  to  be  here  pronounced  to  the 
people.^  This  appears  to  have  been  the  fact  from  the  34th 
verse.  Joshua,  after  he  had  written  the  law,  read  what  he 
had  written,  all  the  words  of  the  law  :  and  what  he  read  was 
only,  the  blessings  and  crtrsini^s,  according  to  all  that  is 
loritlen  in  the  book  of  the  law;'^  so  that  he  transcribed  only 
the  several  blessings  and  curses  which  Moses  had  recorded; 
these  he  copied  out  from  the  book  of  the  law,  and  wrote  upon 
the  stones  inishneh,  a  copy  or  duplicate  of  them.  As  to  the 
opinion  of  some  writers,  that  Joshua  might  perhaps  inscribe, 
not  indeed  all  the  law  of  Moses,  but  an  abstract  or  compen- 
dium of  it  (the  heads  or  titles  say  others,)  the  account  we  have 
of  what  Joshua  wrote  does  not  favour  any  such  conjectures. 
He  copied  from  the  book  of  the  law  the  several  blessings  and 
cursings,  which  were  here  to  be  pronounced.  The  transcript 
of  these  is  said  to  be  a  copy  of  the  laiv  of  Moses  ;  and  so  it 
was,  as  far  as  the  particular  case  in  which  they  were  here  con- 
cerned obliged  them  to  take  a  copy  of  it. 

The  success  of  the  Israelites  against  Jericho  and  Ai  alarmed 
the  neighbouring  nations  of  Canaan,  and  caused  them  to  form 
a  confederate  army  for  their  common  safety;*  but  the  Gibeon- 
ites,  who  were  a  people  of  the  Hivites,''  declined  the  associa- 
tion, and  sent  ambassadors  to  Joshua,  and  by  a  stratagem  ob- 
tained a  league  with  Israel.^  Joshua  and  the  elders  of  Israel 
appear  to  have  treated  unadvisedly  with  this  people,  for  they 
asked  not  coimsel  about  them  at  the  mouth  of  the  Lord.® 
And  it  may  be  questioned  whether  the  treaty  with  them  was 
not  directly  contrary  to  what  God  had  commanded;  for  with 
some  particular  nations,  of  one  of  which  these  Gibeonites  were 
a  people,^  God  had  strictly  commanded  them,  to  smite  them., 
and  utterly  destroy  them,  and  make  7io  covenant  luith 
them,  nor  show  mercy  unto  them}  In  like  manner  there 
are  doubts  to  be  raised  concerning  the  Israelites'  performance 
of  what  they  had  promised.  When  they  came  unto  the  cities 
of  this  people,  they  smote  them  not,  because  of  the  princes 
of  the  congregation  had  sivorn  unto  them  by  the  Lord  God 
of  Israel.^  They  apprehended  that  they  might  Jiot  touch 
them,  because  of  the  oath  which  they  had  sworn  unto  them  f 
and  yet  one  would  think,  that  they  did  not  truly  keep  the 
public  faith  which  they  had  given ;  for  though  they  did  in- 
deed let  the  Gibeonites  live,  yet  they  did  not  perform  this 
promise  in  tlie  public  sense  in  which  they  seem  to  have  treated 
with  this  people.  They  took  from  them  the  very  being  of  a 
nation ;  reduced  them  to  a  state  of  servitude,  which  a  brave 
and   valiant   people    would    probably  have  died   a  thousand 

3  Deul.  xxvli,  11,  &.C.  '  Josh,  viii,  34. 

5  Chap,  ix,  1,2.  ^  Cliap.  xi,  19. 

7  ver.  4—15.  ^  Ver.  14. 

»  Exod.  xxxiv,  12,  S;c.  '  Deut.  vii,  2- 

•'-  Josh,  ix,  IS.  =>  Ver.  20. 


BOOK  XII.  HISTORY  CONNECTED.  229 

deaths  rather  than  have  submitted  to/  These  and  other  re- 
flections, which  naturally  arise  from  what  the  book  of  Joshua 
offers  us  upon  this  affair,  would  induce  us  to  inquire,  whether 
the  Israelites  were  absolutely  commanded  utterly  to  destroy 
all  the  inhabitants  of  the  seven  nations  of  Canaan  ;  whether 
they  could  upon  no  terms  enter  into  a  league  with  any  of 
them ;  whether  what  the  Israelites  granted  to  the  Gibconites 
upon  their  embassy,  was  contrary  to  what  God  had  com- 
manded; and  how  they  at  last  acquitted  themselves  of  the 
league  they  had  made  with  them. 

I.  Were  the  Israelites  absolutely  commanded  to  destroy 
all  the  inhabitants  of  the  nations,  whose  lands  God  had  given 
them  for  an  inheritance?  I  answer,  no.  The  direction  to  the 
Israelites  was  this:  ivhen  thou  contest  nigh  unto  a  city  to 
fight  against  it,  then  proclaim  peace  unto  it :  and  it  shall 
he,  if  it  make  thee  an  answer  of  peace,  and  open  to  thee, 
then  it  shall  be  that  all  the  peojjle  that  is  found  therein, 
shall  be  tributaries  unto  thee,  and  shall  serve  theeJ"  Thus 
the  Israelites  were  to  behave  unto  all  cities;  unto  the  cities  of 
the  Hittites,  of  the  Amorites,  of  the  Canaanites,  of  the  Periz- 
zites,  of  the  Hivites,  of  the  Jcbusites,  and  of  the  Gargashites  ;^ 
as  well  as  unto  the  cities  of  other  nations,  as  is  intimated  from 
what  follows.  If,  says  Moses,  it  will  make  no  peace  with 
thee,  but  will  make  war  against  thee,  then  thou  shall  be- 
siege it ;  and  when  the  Lord  thy  God  hath  delivered  it  into 
thy  hands,  thou  shall  smite  every  male  thereof  with  the 
edge  of  the  sword.  But  the  women  and  the  little  ones,  and 
the  cattle,  and  all  that  is  in  the  city,  even  all  the  spoil 

thereof,  thou  shall  take  unto  thyself Thus  shall  thou  do 

unto  all  the  cities  ivhich  are  very  far  off  from,  thee,  which 
are  not  of  the  cities  of  these  nations.  But  of  the  cities  of 
these  people,  which  the  Lord  thy  God  doth  give  thee  for  an 
inheritance,  thou  shall  save  alive  nothing  that  breatheth. 
But  thou  shall  utterly  destroy  them,  namely,  the  Hittites, 
and  the  Amorites,  the  Canaanites,  and  the  Perizzites,  the 
Hivites,  and  the  Jebusites,  as  the  Lord  thy  God  hath  com- 
manded thee.''     In  these  verses  Moses  directs  the  Israelites 


4  Llbertatem  (says  Calus  Manlius  in  Sallust.  Ijb  de  bello  Catilinar,)  quam 
nemo  bonus  nisi  cum  vita  simiil  amittit.  s  Deut.  xx.  10,  11. 

6  Trinas  (says  Kabbi  Samuel  Ben  Nachman)  prsemisit  Josua  epistolas  in 
terram  Israeliticam,  sen  potius  litteris  tria  proposuit;  qui  fugani  mallent, 
aufugerent;  qui  pacem  in  focdus  venirent;  qui  bellum,  arma  susciperent, 
Unde  GirgesKi  credentes  in  Deum  O.  M,  auf'ugerunt,  in  Africam  se  conferan- 
tes — Gibeonitx  in  foedus  veniebant,  adeoque  terrse  Israeliticx  incola;  manebant; 
reges  triganta  ac  un«s  bellum  susceperunt,  et  cecidere.  Gem.  Hierosolym. ; 
vid.  Selden  de  Jure  Nat.  et  Gentium,  juxta  disciplin.  Hebrseor.  lib.  vi,  c,  13 
p.  7'2>6. 

">  Deut  XX,  12 — 17.  Our  present  Hebrew  copies  seem  to  have  omitted  the 
Girgashites,  who  were  one  of  the  seven  nations  tiiat  were  to  be  destroyed;  see 
Deut.  vii.  The  Samaritan  text  supplies  this  defect  in  this  place,  and  gives  us 
the  seven  nations  in  this  order,  the  Canaanites,  and  the  Amorites,  and  the  Hitt- 
ites,  and  the  Gir^ashites,  and  the  Perizzites,  and  the  Hivites,  and  the  Jebusites, 


230  SACRED  AIsD  PROFANE       BOOK  Xll. 

how  they  were  to  hehave  towards  the  cities  of  their  enemies, 
which  should  attempt  to  hold  out  against  them.  And  they 
were  ordered  to  use  a  severity  towards  the  nations  of  the 
land  of  their  inheritance,  if  they  refused  peace,  greater  than 
towards  the  cities  of  other  nations  for  tlie  like  obstinacy; 
which  there  had  been  no  room  to  enjoin,  if  these  nations  were 
to  have  been  utterly  destroyed,  without  any  offers  of  peace  to 
be  made  to  them.  But  the  Israelites  were  to  proclaim  peace 
to  all  the  cities  of  their  enemies,  and  whatever  city  accepted 
the  offer,  the  inhabitants  of  it  were  to  become  their  servants. 
But  if  the  peace  thus  offered  was  refused,  then,  if  the  city 
which  rejected  it  was  not  one  of  the  land  of  their  inheritance, 
the  Israelites,  as  soon  as  they  had  reduced  it,  were  to  put  all 
the  men  to  the  sword,  and  to  spare  the  women  and  little  ones 
and  cattle,  and  to  take  the  spoil.  Or,  if  it  was  a  city  of  the 
land  of  their  inheritance  which  had  rejected  their  offers,  then, 
as  soon  as  they  could  reduce  it,  they  were  utterly  to  destro}- 
all  the  inhabitants,  and  to  save  alive  nothing  that  breathed 
belon"-ino-  to  it.  That  this  is  indeed  the  true  meaning  of  what 
Moses  directs  is  confirmed  from  a  remark  of  Joshua,  who  ob- 
serves, that  as  God  had  purposed  utterly  to  destroy  the  nations 
of  Canaan,^  so  he  did  not  dispose  any  of  them  to  accept  of 
peace  from  the  Israelites,  in  order  to  their  preservation.  There 
tuas  not,  says  he,  a  city  that  made  peace  with  the  children 
of  Israel,  save  the  Hivites  the  inhabitants  of  Gibeon  ;  all 
other  they  took  in  battle,  for  it  was  of  the  Lord,^  to  harden 
their  hearts,^  that  they  should  come  against  Israel  in  battle, 
that  he  ?night  destroy  them  utterly,  and  that  they  might 
have  no  favour,  but  that  he  might  destroy  them,  as  the 
Lord  commanded  Moses.^  Cunaeus  comments  upon  this  text 
very  justly  to  this  purpose:  "It  is  plain;"  says  he,  "  from 
hence,  that  these  nations  were  therefore  extirpated,  because 
they  chose  rather  the  chance  of  war,  than  to  accept  the  terms 
which  the  Israelites  could  offer  them.  But,  if  they  would  have 
surrendered  when  summoned,  undoubtedly  they  had  not  been 
destroyed."^  . 

There  is  a  passage  in  the  book  of  Deuteronomy,  which 
may  seem  to  intimate  that  these  nations  of  Canaan  were  ab- 
solutely to  be  destroyed  by  the  Israelites,  without  any  terms 


s  See  Wisdom  xii,  3.  „.,.,,,-., 

9  1  cannot  but  obsene  how  closclv  the  reflection  ot  Josluia  here  is  copied 
by  Homer.  In  all  the  evils  that  came  upon  the  Greeks  from  the  difference  be- 
tween Achilles  and  Agamemnon,  Homer  says,  A/oc  J '  iiiKuno  /itsKi,  11.  i. 

I  1  have  formerly  observed  in  the  case  of  I'haraoh,  wluA  is  the  true  meaning 
of  the  Scripture  expression,  oftlie  Lokd's  hankmng  ainj  one's  heart.  See  vol.  ii, 
book  ix. 

'^  Joshua  xi,  19,20.  .    ,   „. 

3  Enimvero  ilhid  hinc  efficitur,  deletas  propterea  eas  Gentes  esse,  quia  belli 
fortunam  tentare,  quam  conficere  pacem  in  Israclitarum  legjes  malueriint. 
Quod  si  fecialibus  auscultassent,  utique  jam  salus  eorum  neutiquam  in  dubic 
fuisset.    Cunscus  dc  Uepub.  HebrKor.  lib.  ii,  c.  20.. 


BOOK  XII.  HISTORY  CONNECTED.  231 

of  favour  or  mercy.  When  the  Lord  thy  God,  says  Moses, 
shall  bring  thee  into  the  kmd,  whither  thou  goest  to  pos- 
sess it,  and  hath  cast  out  many  nations  before  thee,  the 
Hittites  and  the  Girgashites,  and  the  Amorites,  and  the 
Canaanites,  and  the  Perizzites,  and  the  Hivites,  and  the 
Jebusites,  seven  nations  greater  and  mightier  than  thou. 
And  luhen  the  Lord  thy  God  shall  deliver  them  before  thee, 
thou  shall  smite  them  and  utterly  destroy  them,  thou  shall 
make  no  covenant  luith  them,  nor  shoiu  mercy  unto  them 

But,  thus  shall  ye  deal  with  the?n  :   Ye  shall 

destroy  their  altars,  and  break  down  their  images,  and 

burn  their  graven  images  with  fire And  thou 

shall  consume  all  the  people  which  the  Lord  thy  God  shall 
deliver  thee,  thine  eye  shall  have  no  pity  upon  thern^  I 
would  observe  upon  this  text,  that  it  is  a  direction  to  the  Is- 
raelites, what  they  were  to  do  to  these  nations,  after  they  had 
attacked  them  and  subdued  them;  but  it  gave  them  no  charge 
to  destroy  any  people  who  should  choose  to  submit  and  sur- 
render, without  engaging  in  a  war  against  them.  The  direc- 
tions given  in  this  text  were  to  be  executed,  when  the  Lord 
had  brought  the  Lsraelites  into  the  lands  of  these  nations,* 
and  had  cast  out  the  inhabitants  before  them.^  When  the 
Lord  had  given  the  people  of  these  nations  into  the  hands  of 
the  Israelites,^  and  had  discomfited  them,  and  caused  them  to 
flce;^  then  indeed  the  Lsraelites  were  to  have  no  pity  upon 
them,  but  to  smite  and  utterly  destroy  them,  to  consume  and 
make  an  end  of  them.^  This  vengeance  the  Israelites  had  in 
charge  to  execute  upon  all  these  nations,  after  they  had  en- 
tered into  a  war  with  them,  and  obtained  a  conquest  over 
them.  But  nothing  in  the  text  intimates  that  they  were  to 
have  proceeded  with  this  severity  against  any  nation  which 
chose  to  surrender,  before  they  had  tried  the  issue  of  war,  and 
determined  their  fate  by  it.  If  any  of  them  had  not  come 
out  against  the  Israelites  in  battle,^  but  had  delivered  up  their 
cities  upon  summons,"  before  the  Lord  had  defeated  and  dis- 
comfited them,  they  might  have  had  terms  to  save  their  lives."' 
But  let  us  inquire  what  terms  the  Israelites  could  give  them, 
and  whether, 

II.  They  could  make  a  covenant  or  enter  into  a  league  with 


■»  Deut.  v'li,  1, 2,  5,  16,.  &c.  "  Ver.  1. 

6  Ibid.  '  Ver.  2. 

8  None  of  the  translators  of  the  Bihle  li:)ve,  I  think,  carefully  attended  to 
the  Hebrew  text  in  rendering  the  words  in  tiie  2(1  verse,  which  we  translate, 
Thau  shall  smite  tliem.  The  Hebi-ew  word  is  cn^sn',  which  I  take  to  be  not  in 
the  second  person  tuou,  but  the  third  person  of  tlie  preterit  hiphilof  the  verb 
p;j  and  th.at  t}ie  Lord  tlnj  God  going  before,  is  the  nominative  case  to  it.  I 
imagine  that  the  word  i^jo'?  should  be  referred  to  this  verb,  and  would  render 
the  place  thus  :  And  ivheti  the  Lonn  thy  Gop  shall  have  give7i  them  up,  and  smote 
them  before  thee,  thoxi  shalt  utter  hi  destroy  them,  &.c. 

9  Deut.  vii,  2.  ^  "       i  According  to  Joshua  xi,  19, 20. 
«  Dent.  XX,  10,  11.  '  Ibid,  et  Josh,  ubrsup. 


232.  SACRED  AND  PROFANE       BOOK  XII, 

them.  Now  this  point  may  be  clearly  determined,  if  we  con- 
sider distinctly  the  several  injunctions  laid  upon  them.  And 
here,  1.  They  were  evidently  commanded  not  to  tolerate  the 
worship  of  the  idols  of  Canaan,  in  any  part  of  the  land.  Where- 
soever they  could  carry  their  victorious  arms,  they  were  to 
take  care  not  to  bow  down  to  the  gods  of  these  nations,  but 
were  utterly  to  overthroio  them,  to  break  clown  their  ima- 
ges,'*^ to  destroy  their  altars,  and  cut  down  their  groves  ;^  or, 
as  it  is  expressed  in  another  place,  they  were  utterly  to  de- 
stroy all  the  places  wherein  these  nations  had  served  their 
gods,  upon  the  high  mountains,  and  upon  the  hills,  and 
under  every  green  tree.  They  were  to  overthrow  their  altars, 
break  their  pillars,  burn  their  groves  with  fire,  hew  down 
the  graven  images  of  their  gods,  and  destroy  the  names  of 
them  out  of  the  place. '^  Thus  they  were  entirely  to  abolish 
the  religion  which  was  embraced  in  these  nations ;  and  it  is 
hard  to  be  imagined,  that  they  could  make  a  league  with  any 
of  their  states,  whilst  they  were  so  doing.  For,  as  a  league 
between  two  nations  implies,  in  the  very  notion  of  it,  their 
having  upon  some  terms  given  their  mutual  faith  to  each 
other,  to  observe  punctually  what  had  been  stipulated  between 
them;  and  as  such  public  faith  was,  according  to  the  custom 
of  these  times,  generally  given  and  taken  at  a  public  sacrifice, 
where  thfr  parties  to  the  treaty  sware  solemnly  to  each  other 
by  their  respective  gods  ;^  so  it  is  hard  to  say  how  the  Israel- 
ites, who  were  in  nowise  to  allow  the  idols  of  Canaan  to  be 
gods,  could  take  this  public  faith  from  the  worshippers  of 
them.  And  this,  I  think,  is  hinted  in  the  command  given 
them.  Thou  shall  make  no  covenant  with  them  and  their 
gods.^  According  to  the  forms  of  these  times,  a  covenant 
could  hardly  be  made  with  a  people,  without  admitting  their 
gods  into  it,  to  be  their  witnesses,  and  avengers  of  those  who 
should  break  it.  But  the  Israelites  could  not  so  far  recognize 
the  false  objects  of  the  worship  of  these  nations,  and  therefore 
could  not  thus  enter  into  covenant  with  them.  But,  2.  The 
Israelites  were  not  only  to  demolish  and  destroy  the  idols  of 
Canaan,  but  were  to  take  away  from  the  people  both  their 
place  and  nation.  All  the  lands  and  cities  of  the  several 
nations  which  inhabited  Canaan,  were  to  be  divided  by  lot 
among  the  tribes  of  the  children  of  Israel,  to  every  family  of 
each  tribe  a  suitable  part  and  portion  of  thcm;^  and  in  order 
hereto  the  Israelites  were,  as  God  should  enable  them,  to  dis- 

-•  Esod,  xxiil,  24.  ^  Clinp.  xxiv,  13.  ^  Deut.  xii,  2,  3. 

■?  See  and  compare  Genesis  xxvi,  28— 31,  with  xxxi,  44 — 55;  and  in  this 
manner  the  heathen  nations  made  truces  and  leatjues  with  one  another,  sis 
might  be  proved  from  many  places  in  Homer  and  other  ancient  writers. 

8  Exod.  xxiii,  32.  Our  English  version  of  the  text  is  injudicious,  and  not 
strictly  agreeable  to  the  Hebrew  particle.  One  thing  only  is  here  forbidden, 
the  making  or  confirming  a  league  with  them,  for  the  doing  of  which  it  was 
necessary  to  proceed  according  to  the  religious  rites  used  fir  that  purpose. 

"  See  Numb,  xxxiii.  50,  and  xxvi,  1 — 5.*. 


BOOK  XII.  HISTORY  CONNECTED.  233 

possess  the  inhabitants,  and  take  possession  of  them.  God  had 
indeed  determined  not  to  drive  out  all  the  Canaanites  before  the 
Israelites  in  one  year,  immediately  upon  the  Israelites  entering 
into  their  land,  because  such  a  procedure  would  have  had  its  in- 
conveniences.^ But  the  Israelites  were,  as  they  increased,  to 
be  enabled  by  little  and  little  to  subdue  them,^  and  were 
strictly  commanded,  as  they  grew  able,  to  take  from  them 
their  possessions,  and  not  suffer  any  of  them  to  retain  where- 
with to  live  as  a  people  among  them.^  From  the  xxth  of 
Deuteronomy,  it  may,  perhaps,  at  first  sight  seem  as  if  the  Is- 
raelites had  power,  when  they  summoned  the  cities  of  these 
nations,  if  they  had  an  answer  of  peace  from  them,  to  let 
the  inhabitants  hold  their  cities  upon  condition  of  paying 
tribute  for  them,''  but  the  text,  duly  considered,  gave  no 
such  libert3^  If  a  city  opened  unto  them,  then  it  was  to  be, 
that  all  the  people  who  were  found  iherein,  were  to  be 
tributaries,  and  to  serve  them.*  It  is  not  said,  that  the 
Israelites  were  io put  such  cities  under  tribute,  which  would 
have  been  the  expression,  if  they  were  to  have  treated  them 
as  political  bodies,  and  to  have  continued  them  in  that  ca- 
pacity, only  raising  a  tax  or  tribute  upon  them;^  but  all  the 
people  found  therein  were  to  be  tributaries  and  servants.  The 
terms  to  be  given  were,  not  to  a  city  or  people  in  their  collec- 
tive capacity,  but  to  the  individuals,  to  the  several  persons 
who  had  composed  it;  and  they  were  to  become  tributaries 
and  servants,  in  the  manner  that  Solomon  afterwards  dealt 
with  their  children  in  some  particular  cities,  where  he  found 
them.^  He  made  them  pay  tribute,^  or,  as  it  is  otherwise 
expressed  in  the  book  of  Kings,  he  levied  a  tribute  of  bond 
service  upon  them,^  the  nature  of  which  is  sufficiently  ex- 
plained by  what  follows.  Of  the  children  of  Israel  did  Solo- 
mon make  no  bondmen,  but  they  were  his  men  of  war,  and 
his  servants,  and  his  princes,  and  his  captains,  and  bare 
rule  over  the  people,  that  wrought  in  the  work;^  conse- 
quently, those  tributaries,  who  paid  him  the  tribute  of  bond- 
service, were,  under  the  direction  of  these  Israelites,  obliged  to 
perform  the  work  and  service  which  was  required  of  them. 
Now  that  this  was  the  true  intent  of  the  direction  to  the  Israel- 
ites, in  the  text  above  cited, ^  is  evident  from  what  appears  to 
have  been  the  failure,  when  afterwards  they  did  not  execute 

'  Exod.  xxlil,  29.  ^  Ver.  SO. 

3  Exod.  xxxiii,  33  ;  Deut.  vii,  22,  23  j  Josh,  xxlii,  5,  T,  11.  12,  13. 

"  Deut.  XX,  11.  5  Id.  ibid. 

s  When  Phai'aoh  Nerho,  after  the  death  of  Josiah,  sent  for  Jehoahaz,  whom 
the  people  had  made  king  at  Jerusalem,  and  sent  him  prisoner  to  Ej^ypt,  and 
set  up  Jchoiakim  king  in  his  stead;  as  he  did  not  take  away  from  the  Jews 
their  being  a  people,  though  he  raised  a  tax  or  tribute  upon  them,  so  it  is  not 
said,  that  all  the  people  became  tributaries  unto  him  and  served  him,  but  that 
he  put  the  land  to  a  tribute.     2  Kings  xxiii,  32. 

7  2  Chron.  viii,  7,  8.  8  ibid.  9  1  Kings  Jx,  21. 

1  Ver.  22,  23.  -  Deut.  .xx,  11. 

Vol.  III.  G  a: 


234  SACRED  AND  PROFANE       BOOK  Xir, 

what  had  been  given  in  charge  to  them.  Thus,  after  the  death 
of  Joshua,  the  children  of  Benjamin  did  not  drive  out  the  Jebu- 
sites  from  Jerusalem;^  the  children  of  Manasseh  did  not  dispos- 
sess the  inhabitants  of  Beth-shean,  and  several  other  towns,  of 
their  respective  cities."*  Ephraim  was  faulty  in  like  manner, 
with  regard  to  the  Canaanites  of  Gezer,*  Zebulon  to  the  inhabi- 
tants of  Kitron  and  Nahalol,**  Asher  and  Naphtali  to  several 
other  cities  ;^  though  in  all  these  cases,  as  the  several  tribes  grew 
strong  enough,  they  reduced  these  communities  so  far,  as  to 
compel  them  to  pay  tribute  for  their  possessions.^  But  be- 
cause herein  they  came  to  terms  with  them,  contrary  to  what 
Gon  had  commanded,  to  make  no  league  with  them;®  there- 
fore Avhat  Joshua  had  before  threatppRH^  was  now  denounced 
against  them,  that  God  wouJcl  not  drive  these  nations  out  from 
before  them,  but  that  they  should  be  as  thorns  in  their  sides, 
and  their  gods  a  snare  unto  them.^  This,  I  think,  is  a  true 
reprpspntaiion  of  what  the  Israelites  were  enjoined,  with  re- 
gard to  the  treatment  which  the  inhabitants  of  these  nations 
were  to  have  from  them ;  and  from  all  this,  I  think,  it  evi- 
dently appears,  that  the  Israelites  could  enter  into  no  alliance, 
could  make  no  league,^  no  covenant  with  them.  They  had 
indeed  liberty  to  give  them  quarter,  and  grant  them  their 
lives,  upon  condition  they  would  become  their  servants;  but 
this,  I  think,  cannot  properly  be  called  making  a  league,  cove- 
nant, or  alliance  with  them ;  for  a  league  is  one  thing,  and 
servitude  quite  another.^  The  word  league  is  indeed  used  in 
a  large  sense  by  the  Civilians.  The  Romans  admitted  that  it 
signified  a  grant  of  any  favours  to  conquered  nations;*  and 
Diodorus  Siculus  uses  a  word  of  like  import,  where  a  con- 
queror had  reduced  the  persons  he  had  subdued  to  accept  such 
terms  as  he  thought  fit  to  give  them.*'  In  like  manner  the 
men  of  Jabesh-Gilead  were  offered  a  league  with  the  Ammo- 
nite, by  which  they  were  to  submit  to  serve  him,  and  to  have 
all  their  right  eyes  thrust  out,  in  order  to  be  made  a  reproach 
to  all  Israel.^  And  in  both  these  cases,  as  the  people  treated 
with  were  to  be  continued  a  people,  what  was  granted  might 

3  Judges  i,  21.  ■•  Ver.  27.  5  Ver.  29. 

6  Ver.  30.  "•  Ver.  32,  33.  ^  Judges  i,  30, 33,  o5. 

9  Exod.  xxiii,  32;  Deut.  vii,  2.  ^  Josh.xxiii,  13. 

2  Judges  li,  2.  '  Exod.  and  Deut.  ubi  sup. 

4  1 'editii  non  propria  in  foedere,  sed  in  ditione  esse  diciintur,  unde  illud 
Lalinnrum  de  Campanis  apud  Livium  ;  Campanorum  aliam  condilionem  esse, 
qui  non  foedere,  sed  per  ditlonem  in  fidem  venissent.  Item  de  Apulis,  ita  in 
societatem  eos  esse  acccptos,  ut  non  xquo  foedere,  sed  ut  in  ditione  populi 
Komiini  essent.     Vid.  Calvin.  Lexic.  Jurid.  in  veibo  I'adus. 

5  Esse  antem  tna  genera  foederum  ;  unum,  cum  bello  victis  dicerentur  leges : 
ubi  enim  omnia  ei,  qui  armis  plus  potest,  dedita  esi-cnt,  qux  ex  iis  habere 
victos,  quibus  mulctarieos  velit,  ipsius  jus  atque  arbitrium  esse.  Livii  Hist 
lib.  xxxiv,  c.  57- 

6  Ta.uTa.fAcv  koli  tk;  ^«t'  twr^i  iut.Ta.cTK>i^ifA(V6g,  ksu  (mvS'a.;  owe  (Cii>.VTO  QiT^oct 
intfaLrmjduTctfAtvo^  iJ'ceKi  ;^a'/>«v  k«(  tckiv  n  KttroiK>i(rtv,  Diodor.  Sic.  Eel.  p.  839, 
edit.  Rhodoman. 

■'■  1  Sara,  xi,  2. 


BOOK  XII.  HISTORY  CONNECTED.  235 

be  styled  a  league  or  covenant  made  with  them.  But  the  Is- 
raelites were  not  to  suffer  the  nations  of  Canaan  any  longer 
to  have  a  being:  their  cities,  country,  and  possessions,  were 
to  be  taken  from  them,  and  their  persons  to  become  the  pro- 
perty of  the  new  possessors  of  their  lands  and  estates.  And 
under  these  circumstances,  whatever  favour  each  Canaanite 
might  meet  with  in  his  private  capacity,  from  the  several  Is- 
raelites into  whose  hands  he  might  fall,  yet  no  league  or  cove- 
nant could  be  lawfully  concluded  with  any  nation  or  com- 
munity of  them,  because  the  Israelites  were  not  at  liberty  to 
permit  any  such  bod)^  politic  of  them  to  remain  in  being,  to 
receive  and  enjoy  what  by  such  league  might  be  granted  to 
them.     Let  us  now  inquire, 

III.  Whether  the  league  concluded  between  Israel  and  the 
Gibeonites  was  contrary  to  what  God  had  enjoined:  and  I 
think  it  certainly  was;  for  unquestionably  the  peace  and  the 
league  made  by  Joshua  with  this  people  was  of  a  public  nature. 
It  was  confirmed  to  tbcir  ambassadors,  who  appeared  to  treat 
no  otherwise  than  in  their  public  character;  as  agents  not  sti- 
pulating to  save  the  lives  of  a  few  or  of  any  number  of  pri- 
vate men,  but  as  negotiating  for  the  public,  for  the  health  and 
safety  of  the  community  which  employed  them.  Now  to 
take  occasion  from  the  words  which  tell  us  the  nature  of  the 
league,  which  Joshua  made  witb  this  people,  to  say,  that  he 
had  only  promised  to  let  them  live,^  and  consequently  that 
the  Israelites  had  fully  performed  what  they  had  engaged,  in- 
asmuch as  they  did  not  put  the  men,  women,  and  children 
of  Gibeon  and  its  cities  to  the  sword,  would  be,  I  think,  a 
lower  quibble  than  the  Romans  were  guilty  of  to  the  Cartha- 
ginians, when  having  granted  by  a  public  decree  of  the  senate, 
that  Carthage  should  be  a  free  state,  enjoy  its  own  laws,  and 
possess  its  domains  in  Africa,  if  they  immediately  delivered 
hostages,  and  performed  what  the  consuls  had  in  charge  to 
require  of  them;^  they  explained  to  them,  that  they  thought 
the  people,  not  the  city,  was  the  state  of  Carthage,^  and  de- 
manded of  them  to  raze  their  city,  and  build  themselves  ano- 
ther in  a  situation  higher  up  in  their  country.^  Tbe  Israelites 
were  undoubtedly  obliged  by  their  treaty  to  stop  the  war, 
when  they  came  to  the  cities  of  Gibeon;  they  had  disarmed 
themselves,  and  were  not  at  liberty  to  touch  or  to  smite  this 
people,  because  of  the  oath  they  had  sworn  unto  them.     And 

'  Josh,  ix,  15. 

'  E«iv  roK  VTrdLTQK  TpixifjO-im  Tac  fvJo^oTaTjjj  irfm  'JTO.iS'u.c  (;  ofxn^U'jiv  7ra.pu.a-^a:(ri. 
XM  T  aXAa  icATetiuscraia-lv  aurm,  (^»u  Ku.p^nJov:t  fKivSupAv  fi  nM  euJTOvo/mov,  ksli  -yni 
ej-jtv  5;^is9-/u  (V  A/Cu».     Appian.  de  Bello  Piiiuc,  p.  4-o. 

1  Ka.px'fJ'ovtt  y^  '^M'^^,  «  TO  ftTa^of,  >iy}sfjii^a..  Id.  p.  52.  In  voce,  liberara 
relinqiu  Carthaginem,  manifesta  erat  captio:  frustra  vocem  Cartliaginis  urge- 
ban  I  Romani,  dicentes  civium  multitudinem,  non  urbena  significari.  Grot,  de 
Jure  Belli  et  Pac.  lib.  ii,  c.  16,  sec.  15. 

2  Eng-nri  t>k  Knp;)(^>iS'ovog  x/utiv,  kcu  OLiciKiveier^i  ovu  S-sast*,  rut  vfAirttpa^,  cyio»- 
itWT*  frtJVt!;  cLTTO  d*A«tcrs-;)j-   fy.vh  yap  xy.iv  iyxa^Al  »*T«o-Kjt4«'.     Appian.  p.  46. 


236  SACRED  AND  PROIANE  BOOK  XII. 

as  the  saving  alive  the  inhabitants,  but  demolishing  or  taking 
from  them  their  cities  and  inheritance,  would  have  been  not 
keeping,  but  evading  the  public  league,  which  was  made  with 
this  nation;  so  in  this  the  Israelites  had  unadvisedly  brought 
themselves  into  a  great  strait,  having  solemnly  granted  what 
they  could  not  perform,  without  a  manifest  neglect  and  viola- 
tion of  what  God  had  in  the  strictest  manner  required  of  them. 
It  will, 

IV.  Be  asked,  how  then  did  the  Israelites  acquit  them- 
selves in  this  matter.?  To  this,  I  think,  the  answer  is  ob- 
vious: they  remonstrated  to  the  Gibeonites  the  fraud  of  which 
they  had  been  guilty,  to  obtain  the  treaty;  and  proposed  as  an 
expedient,  upon  what  terms  they  could  give  them  their  lives. 
The  Gibeonites  consented  to  accept  the  offer  made  to  them, 
and  their  consenting  hereto  was  what  set  the  Israelites  free 
from  the  eml^arrassments  they  were  under  in  this  matter. 
Joshua  said  unto  tlie  Gibeonites,  Wherefore  have  ye  beguiled 
lis,  saying,  ive  are  far  from  you,  lohen  ye  dwell  among  iis?^ 
The  Israelites  had  fully  explained  to  this  people,  that  they 
should  be  under  difficulties  in  making  a  league  with  them,  if 
they  dwelt  among  them;"  and  therefore  Joshua  had  the  high- 
est reason  to  resent  and  expostulate  the  inexcusable  baseness 
of  their  behaviour  in  the  treaty.  However,  as  the  Israelites 
had  power  to  receive  any  of  these  nations,  if  the  people  of 
them  would  become  their  bondsmen  to  serve  them  ;^  upon 
these  terms  Joshua  made  them  an  oifer  of  their  lives.''  The 
Gibeonites  embraced  the  proposal  which  he  made  to  them; 
acknowledged  that  they  expected  tliat  all  their  lands  must  be 
taken  from  them,  and  that  they  aimed  at  nothing  more,  in 
what  they  had  done,  than  barely  to  save  their  lives,^  and  that 
they  entirely  acquiesced  in  his  disposal  of  them  in  any  man- 
ner which  he  could  contriA'e.^  Accordingly,  upon  this  second 
treaty  or  accommodation,  Joshua  made  them  hewers  of  wood 
and  drawers  of  water  for  the  congregation,  and  for  the  al- 
tar.'^ Had  the  Gibeonites  been  unwilling  to  comply  with 
what  was  thus  proposed  to  them,  I  imagine  that  Joshua  would 
have  brought  their  cause  before  the  Lord,^  and  would  have 
asked  the  special  direction  of  Gop,  before  he  and  the  ciders 
of  Israel  would  have  thought  themselves  at  liberty  to  proceed 
in  it.  Two  things  may  be  observed  upon  the  manner  of 
iinishing  this  affair.  1.  Joshua  did  not  dissipate  this  people 
by  allotting  them  to  be  servants  to  the  families  of  the  Israel- 
ites. He  kejjt  them  together,  as  much  a  nation  as  he  had 
I)owcr  to  allow  them  to  be,  a  public  body  of  servants  for  the 
occasions  of  the  congregation.  2.  He  seems  to  have  punished 
their  perfidy,  by  ap])ointing  them  and  their  posterity  to  a  per- 


■i  Josh,  ix,  22. 

*  Ver.  7. 

s  Vid.  qux  sup. 

^  .Tos'i.  ix,  23. 

-  Ver.  21. 

8  Ver.  25. 

9  Ver.  26,  27. 

»  See  Xumb.  xxvii,  5; 

ix,  8. 

BOOK  XII.  HISTORY  CONNECTED.  237 

petual  bondage.  This,  I  think,  he  expressed  to  them,  when 
he  said,  Now  therefore  ye  are  accursed,  and  there  shall  none 
of  you  be  freed  from  being  bondmen.^  Had  the  Gibeonites 
treated  openly  and  uprightly  with  the  Israelites,  I  suppose, 
there  was  nothing  in  the  law  to  prevent  their  being  received 
upon  such  terms,  as  that,  after  some  generations,  their  chil- 
dren might  have  come  into  the  congregation,  and  been  free  in 
Israel.^ 

When  the  Canaanites  heard  that  the  inhabitants  of  Gibeon 
were  gone  over  to  the  Israelites,  they  were  uneasy  at  it. 
Such  a  defection  from  their  common  cause  gave  them  new 
fears,  for  Gibeon  was  a  large  and  powerful  city.^  However, 
they  resolved  to  take  measures  to  deter  other  towns  from  fol- 
lowing this  example,  and  to  defeat  Joshua  of  the  additional 
strength  which  the  Gibeonites  might  be  to  him.  For  this  end 
they  immediately  marched  their  forces,  under  the  conmiand 
of  five  of  their  kings,  against  the  Gibeonites,^  who  sent  unto 
Gilgal  to  Joshua,  for  succour.''  Joshua  with  his  army  soon 
came  to  their  relief,  and  obtained  an  entire  victory  over  the 
five  kings,  took  them  all  prisoners,  and  put  them  to  death." 
Two  very  great  miracles  attended  the  battle,  fought  this  day 
between  the  Canaanites  and  the  Israelites.  One,  that  God 
was  pleased  by  a  storm  of  hailstones  to  kill  more  of  the  ene- 
my^ than  fell  by  the  sword  of  the  Israelites;  the  other,  that 
at  the  word  of  Joshua,  the  Sun  and  Moon  were  seen  to  stand 
still,  for  near  a  whole  day,  to  afford  the  Israelites  a  continu- 
ance of  day-light^  to  pursue  their  victory.  It  is  obvious  how 
remarkably  pertinent  both  these  miracles  were  to  the  circum- 
stances of  the  persons  concerned  in  them.  The  elements, 
and  the  Sun,  Moon  and  lights  of  Heaven,  were  the  deities  at 
this  time  worshipped  by  the  inhabitants  of  Canaan  ;^  but  the 
Israelites  were  the  servants  of  a  truer  God,  by  whose  com- 
mand, and  under  whose  protection,  they  were  to  war  against 
these  nations  and  against  their  gods.  Now  what  greater  de- 
monstration could  be  given  of  the  power  of  their  God  to  sup- 
port them,  or  of  the  inability  of  the  false  deities  of  the  Canaan- 
ites to  assist  their  worshippers,  than  to  see,  that  the  God  of 
Israel  could  cause  these  to  contribute  to,  instead  of  prevent- 
ing, the  ruin  which  was  coming  upon  those  who  served  them.? 
We  cannot  imagine,  that  Joshua  should,  without  a  special  in- 
timation from  Heaven,  have  addressed  unto  God  the  prayer, 
concerning  the  Sun  and  Moon,  which  he  is  recorded  to  have 
made  in  the  sight  of  Israel  ;2  for  of  what  an  extravagance  had 
he  appeared  guilty,  as  if  an  effect  had  not  been  given  to  what 
he  asked  for?  or  how  could  he  be  so  wild  as  to  think  of  an 
accomplishment  of  so  strange  an  expectation  as  this  would 


2  Josh,  ix,  23. 

3  See  Deut  xxlil. 

"  Josh,  X,  1, 

5  Ver.  3,  4,  5. 

«  Ver.  6. 

-  Ver.  7. 

8  Ver.  11. 

9  Ver.  13. 

'  See  vol,  i,  b.  v,  p.  195. 

-  Josh.  X,  12, 

^38  SACRED  AND  PROFANE       BOOK  XII. 

have  been,  had  it  been  only  a  thoug;ht  of  his  own  heart  to 
wish  for  it?  But  unquestionably  the  same  Lord,  who  spake 
unto  him  before  the  battle,  who  bade  him  not  fear  the  armies 
of  the  Canaanites,  who  assured  him  that  they  should  not  be 
able  to  stand  before  him,  directed  him  to  ask  for  this  wonder- 
ful miracle,  and  in  granting  what  he  had  asked  for,  gave  a  full 
testimony,  both  to  the  Israelites  and  their  enemies,  that  the 
gods  of  the  heathen  were  but  idols,  and  that  it  is  the  Lord 
that  made,  and  that  ruleth  in  the  heavens?  But  there  arc 
some  farther  observations,  that  ought  to  be  made  upon  this 
extraordinary  miracle;  for. 

It  is  remarkable,  that  what  Joshua  desired,  and  what  was 
said  to  be  done  upon  this  occasion,  is  recorded  in  the  sacred 
history  in  words  not  agreeable  to  what  are  now  abundantly 
known  to  be  the  motions  of  the  bodies,  that  compose  the 
mundane  system;  Joshua  desired  that  the  Sun  might  stand 
still  upon  Giheon,  and  the  Moon  in  the  valley  of  Sjalon  ;* 
and  the  event  said  to  be  the  effect  of  this  his  prayer  unto  the 
LoRD,^  is  thus  related,  and  the  Sun  stood  still,  and  the  Moon 
stayed,  until  the  people  had  avenged  themselves  upon  their 
p.nc77iies.  So  the  Sun  stood  still  in  the  midst  of  Heaven, 
and  hasted  not  to  go  down  about  a  whole  day  f  and  there 
was  no  day  like  that  before  it  or  after  it.  The  thing,  which 
Joshua  here  prayed  for,  was  to  have  the  day  lengthened,  and 
the  manner  in  which  he  desired  to  have  this  his  prayer  ac- 
complished was  by  having  the  Sun  and  Moon  stopped  in  their 
motions;  and  agreeably  to  his  request  the  text  tells  us,  that 
the  Sun  and  Moon  were  stopped,  and  did  not  move  forward 
for  about  a  whole  day.  But  it  is  now  sufficiently  known, 
that  day  and  night  are  not  caused  by  any  motion  of  the  Sun 
and  Moon,  but  rather  by  the  Earth's  rotation  upon  its  own 
axis ;  and  consequently  the  sacred  pages  state  this  fact  abso- 
lutely wrong,  as  to  the  circumstances  which  caused  it ;  and  if 
so,  can  we  think  they  were  dictated  by  God,  who  cannot  err 
in  this,  or  in  any  matter?  I  answer,  1.  Though  the  succession 
of  day  and  night  is  indeed  caused  by  a  real  motion  of  the 
jGarth  ;  and  not  of  the  Sun  and  Moon,  as  our  modern  astrono- 
mers can  abundantly  demonstrate,  yet  to  appearance,  not  the 
Earth,  but  the  Sun  and  Moon  seem  to  have  those  motions 
which  are  vulgarly  ascribed  to  them,  as  to  a  mariner  at  sea. 
sailing  within  view  of  a  distant  coast,  not  the  ship  he  sails  in, 
but  the  land  he  sees  at  a  distance,  seems  to  be  in  motion,  as 
he  passes  by  it,  2.  In  the  early  ages,  both  before  and  long 
after  the  days  of  Joshua,  the  most  learned  astronomers  had  no 
notion  of  the  improvements  which  our  modern  professors 
have  since  attained  to,  but  conceived  that  the  Sun  and  Moon 
had  their  respective  courses,  according  to  what  common  ap- 

3  Psalm  xcvi,  5.  ••  Joshu-a  x,  1". 

'■>  Ibid.  6  ver,  13. 


BOOK  XII.  HISTORY  CONNECTED.  23^ 

pearance  enabled  them  to  judge  and  think  of  them,  and  agree- 
ably hereto  they  formed  their  schemes,  and  thought  themselves 
able  to  solve  and  account  for  all  appearances  by  them.  Con- 
fjequently,  3.  Had  God  enabled  Joshua  to  form  his  desire  of 
the  longer  day  in  a  manner  more  agreeable  to  our  new  and 
more  accurate  astronomy,  and  dictated  to  him  to  record  the 
miracle  in  terms  suitable  and  agreeable  to  it,  Joshua  must  have 
appeared  both  to  have  wished  a  thing,  and  expressed  it  to 
have  been  effected,  in  a  manner  directly  contrary  to  all  rules 
of  science  then  known ;  and  his  account  of  what  had  happened 
would  have  been  decried,  in  the  times  when  he  lived,  as  false 
in  astronomy,  and  no  great  regard  would  have  been  paid  to 
it.  It  would  have  appeared  rather  a  wild  fancy,  or  gross 
blunder  of  his  own,  than  a  true  account  of  a  real  miracle,  and 
so  have  been  but  little  attended  to  by  the  persons  for  whom, 
and  in  the  ages  which  succeeded  that  in  which  it  was  written. 
4.  We  do  not  read  in  the  sacred  text,  that  God  declared  that 
the  Sun  and  Moon  stood  still  upon  this  occasion.  We  may 
suppose  that  God  might  intimate  to  Joshua  that  he  would 
grant  him  a  miraculous  prolongation  of  the  day,  if  he  would, 
at  the  head  of  his  army,  ask  publicly  for  it  ;^  hereupon  Joshua 
made  his  request  in  such  terms,  as,  according  to  his  own  con- 
ceptions, were  proper  to  be  used  to  ask  such  a  miracle.  "  May 
the  Sun,"  said  he,  "  stand  still  upon  Gibeon,  and  the  Moon 
in  the  valley  of  Ajalon."  This  he  thought  must  have  been 
caused,  if  such  a  length  of  day  as  he  was  ordered  to  require 
was  to  be  given  to  him.  God  heard  his  request,  and  gave  him 
the  thing  he  was  to  ask  for,  a  day  of  near  twice  the  length  of 
any  other.  The  historians  of  the  times  recorded  the  fact  ac- 
cording to  what  it  appeared  to  be  to  them,  and  agreeably  to 
what  was  then  thought  to  be  true  astronomy  ;  and  accordingly, 
the  Sun  and  Moon  appearing,  and  being  thought  for  several 
hours  together,  not  to  have  moved  forward  in  their  courses, 
both  the  author  of  the  book  of  Jasher,^  afterwards,  and  Joshua 
now  in  his  history,  relate  to  us,  that  the  Sun  stood  still,  and 
the  Moon  stayed — and  hasted  not  to  go  down  about  a,  whole 
day.  And,  5.  We  may  reasonably  suppose,  that  though 
Joshua  wrote  his  history  under  the  direction  of  a  divine  as- 
sistance, yet  that  God  would  not  interpose  to  prevent  his  re- 
cording this  fact  in  this  manner.  For,  though  all  Scripture 
is  given  by  inspiration  of  God,  yet  certainly  it  is  given  no 
farther  than  is  necessary  to  make  it  profitable  for  doctrine, 
for  reproof,  for  correction,  and  for  instruction  in  righte- 
ousness.^ Now  the  narration  of  Joshua  might  fully  answei' 
this  great  end  of  Scripture,  might  teach  the  Israelites  the 
power  of  their  God,  to  direct  and  govern  the  Heavens  as  he 
pleased,  might  reprove  the  idolaters  of  their  vain  worship  of 
the  Sun  and  Moon,  whom  they   fondl;^'  called  the  king  and 

'  Joshua  X,  12,  8  Ver.  13.  9  2  Timothv  iii,  16. 


'MO  SACRED  AND  PROFANE       BOOK  XII. 

queen  of  Heaven/  notwithstanding  that  it  did  not  relate  the 
fact  exactly  according  to  what  might  be  the  true  astronomical 
manner  in  which  God  effected  it.  The  most  judicious  writers 
have  agreed,  that  "  the  sacred  historians  were  not  usually  in- 
spired with  the  things  themselves,  which  they  related,  nor 
with  the  very  words  by  which  they  express  what  they  have 
recordcd.^^^  Their  histories  were  written,  not  to  satisfy  our 
curiosity,  but  to  be  a  standing  proof  of  a  providence  to  after- 
ages  ;  to  show  us  the  care  which  God  always  takes  of  good 
people,  and  the  punishments  he  inflicts  upon  the  wicked,  to 
o-ive  us  examples  of  piety  and  virtue,  and,  lastly,  to  inform  us 
of  matters  of  fact  which  tend  to  confirm  our  faith.^  And  so 
far  God  was  unquestionably  pleased  to  direct  and  assist  the 
composers  of  them,  as  to  prevent  their  inserting  in  any  of  their 
narrations,  through  human  frailty,  any  thing  which  might 
contradict  or  disserve  those  purposes  for  which  he  incited 
them  to  draw  up  their  compositions.  Thus  far  Joshua  appears 
in  every  part  of  his  history  to  have  had  the  benefit  of  a  divine 
inspiration,  though  we  have  no  reason  to  suppose  that  God 
dictated  to  him  the  very  words  he  was  to  write,  or  prompted 
him  to  record  the  miracle  we  are  treating  of,  otherwise  than 
his  own  natural  conceptions  disposed  him  to  relate  it,  and  that, 
probably,  amongst  others,  for  this  great  reason :  if  God  had 
inspired  him  to  relate  this  fact  in  a  manner  more  agreeable  to 
true  astronomy,  unless  he  had  also  inspired  the  world  with 
a  like  astronomy  to  receive  it,  it  would  rather  have  tended 
to  raise  amongst  those,  who  read  and  heard  of  it,  disputes  and 
oppositions  of  science  falsely  so  called,  than  have  promoted 
the  great  ends  of  religion  intended  by  it. 

It  may  be  asked,  if  the  miracle  recorded  by  Joshua  was  in- 
deed fact,  and  one  day  was  hereby  made  as  long  as  two,'  could 
so  remarkable  a  thing  have  happened  without  being  observed 
by  the  astronomers  of  all  nations?  Such  a  variation  of  the 
Sun's  setting,  as  was  hereby  occasioned  in  the  land  of  Canaan, 
must  have  made  a  longer  day  or  a  longer  night  than  was  natu- 
ral in  every  other  part  of  the  habitable  world  :  a  longer  day, 
wherever  the  Sun  was  visible  at  the  time  of  Joshua's  making 
his  request,  and  a  longer  night  in  every  part  of  the  opposite 
hemisphere.  Astronomy  was  studied  in  these  times  with 
great  application  in  many  nations;*  and  observations  of  the 
Heavens  were  taken  and  recorded  with  as  much  exactness  as 
the  professors  of  that  science  were  capable  of  attaining;  and 
it  is  probable,  that  if  so  remarkable  an  alteration  of  the  course 

1  Sec  vol.  i,  1).  V,  p.  193  ;  Jer.  vli,  18 ;   x!iv,  17—25. 

-  Lowtli's  Vindicat.  of  the  Divine  Authority  and  Inspiration  of  the  Old  and 
New  Testament,  p.  220. 

sibid.  p.  221;  Five  Letters  concerning  the  Inspiration  of  the  Holy  Scrip- 
lures,  p.  28. 

1  Ecclus.  xlvi,  4. 

■^  See  vol.  i,  b.  v,  p.  1P3;  vol.  ii,  b.  vi,  p.  "6;  b.  ylli,  p.  162. 


BOOK  XII.  HISTORY  CONNECTED.  241 

of  day  and  night,  as  this  was,  had  really  happened,  we  should 
not  find  some  hint  or  remain  of  some  heathen  writer  to  con- 
cur with,  and  bear  testimony  to  the  truth  of  what  the  saci-ed 
Iiistorian  relates  about  it?  But  in  answer  hereto  let  us  observe, 
1.  That  it  is  highly  improbable,  I  might  say,  morally  impos- 
sible, that  Joshua  should  attempt  to  record  such  a  miracle  as 
this,  if  it  had  not  been  done,  for  every  one  of  his  Israelites,  as 
well  as  all  their  enemies,  must  have  known  and  rejected  the 
falsity  of  his  narration  ;  and  he  could  never  think  of  making 
the  world  believe  a  thing  so  conspicuously  false,  if  it  had  not 
happened.  2.  This  fact  might  be  recorded  not  only  by  Joshua, 
and  afterwards  in  the  book  of  Jashcr,°  but  also  by  divers  other 
writers  of  other  nations,  and  yet  what  they  had  registered 
about  it  may  easily  be  conceived  not  to  have  come  down  to 
us.  The  most  ancient  heathen  chronicles  were  very  sliort 
and  concise,  and  in  a  few  ages  were  disfigured  by  mythology 
and  false  learning,^  so  as  to  go  down  to  succeeding  times  in  a 
shape  and  sense  quite  difierent  from  what  was  at  first  the  de- 
sign of  them.  And  the  original  accounts  hereby  becoming 
not  suitable  to  the  taste  which  succeeded,  were  soon  neglected, 
and  in  time  lost.  But,  3,  If  we  could  unravel  the  ancient 
fables,  we  should  find,  that  the  fact  of  there  having  been  one 
day  in  which  the  course  of  the  Sun  had  been  irregular,  had 
been  indeed  conveyed  down  in  the  memoirs  of  the  heathen 
literature.  Statins  had  heard  of  it,  and  supposed  that  it  hap- 
pened about  the  time  of  the  Theban  war,  when  Atreus  made 
an  inhuman  banquet  of  Thyestes's  children.**  Other  writers 
supposed  that  it  had  been  in  the  days  of  Phaeton;  and  Ovid 
has  beautified  the  fable  told  of  him,  that  it  was  he  who  oc- 
casioned it,  by  having  obtained  leave  to  guide  the  chariot  of 
the  Sun  for  that  day,  which  he  was  in  nowise  able  to  manage. 
Thus  the  heathen  poets  and  mythulogists  dressed  up  and  dis- 
figured the  hints  which  they  found  in  ancient  records.  Atreus 
was  father  of  Agamemnon,  and  lived  but  a  generation  before 
the  Trojan  war;  therefore  the  Sun's  standing  still  in  the  days 
of  Joshua  could  not  have  happened  in  his  time;  so  that  Sta- 
tius,  or  any  writer  from  whom  he  took  the  hint,  were  not 
true  in  their  chronology.  But  Phaeton  lived  much  earlier: 
he  was  son  of  Tithonus,*^  who  was  the  son  of  Cephalus,^  the 
son  of  Mercury,^  who  was  born  of  Maia  the  daughter  of  Atlas.^ 
Atlas  lived  about  A.  M.  2385;^  his  daughter  Maia  might  have 
Mercury  by  Jupiter  about  A.  M.  2441,  about  the  twentieth 

6  Joslnia  X,  ITi. 

"  See  vul.  ii,  book  viii.  Qrnv  av  d  fAvB-oKoynriv — ^u  rm  ■^poeifDi/Aivm  /uvm/uc- 
viuiiv,  K*t  /.ciJ'iv  otia^iu  TUTm  Myi^Srui  yiyovo;  at*  y.ui  TriTpiy/utnv.  Plut,  de 
ISicl.  et  Osind. 

s  Stat,  in  Thebaid.  lib.  i,  ver.  ;125  ;  lib.  iv,  ver.  307. 

9  Apollodor.  lib.  iii.c,  13.  '  Ibid.  2  Ibid. 

3  Id.  lib.  eod,  c.  10.  4  See  vol,  ii,  book  viii,  p.  181. 

Vol.  III.  H  h 


242  SACRED  AND  PROFANE       BOOK  XII. 

year  of  Jupiter's  age.*  Mercury  at  twenty-five  years  old 
might  beget  Cephalus,  about  A.  M.  2466.  Cephalus  at  thirty 
begat  Tithonus,  A.  INI.  2496.  Tithonus  at  thirty-four  begat 
Phaeton,  who  woukl  thus  be  born  about  A.  JVI.  2530.  The 
Sun  stood  still  in  the  days  of  Joshua'^  A.  M.  2554.  Phaeton 
was  then  about  twenty-four  years  old,  a  young  man,  not  of 
age  to  guide  the  chariot  of  the  Sun.  Thus  the  time  of  Phae- 
ton's life  may  synchronize  with  the  year  of  the  Sun's  stand- 
ing still  in  the  days  of  Joshua,  and  the  fable  told  of  him  might 
have  its  first  rise  from  a  fact  recorded  to  have  happened  in 
his  youth,  dressed  up  and  diversified  with  the  various  fictions 
of  succeeding  mythologists,  until  it  was  brought  to  what  Ovid 
left  it.  But,  4.  If  we  go  into  China,  we  may  there  find  some- 
thing more  truly  historical,  relating  to  the  fact  before  us. 
The  Chinese  Records  report,  that  in  the  reign  of  their  em- 
peror Yao  the  Sun  did  not  set  for  ten  days  together,  and  that 
they  feared  the  world  would  be  set  on  fire.'^  Yao,  according 
to  Martinus,  was  the  seventh  emperor  of  China,  Fohi  being 
the  first.  And,  as  he  computes,  from  the  first  year  of  Fohi's 
reign  to  Yao's,  are  five  hundred  and  eighty-seven  years;  for 
Fohi  reigned  one  hundred  and  fifteen  years,^  after  him  Xin- 
num  one  hundred  and  forty ,^  Hoang-ti  one  hundred,^  Xao- 
haon  eighty-four,2  Chuen-hio  seven ty-eight,^  Cou  seventy,"* 
and  next  to  him  succeeded  Yao.^  The  first  year  of  Fohi's 
reign  in  China  was  A.  M.  1891 ;''  from  hence  count  down  five 
hundred  and  eighty-seven  years,  and  the  first  year  of  Yao 
will  be  A.  M.  2479.  Yao  reigned  ninety  years,^  to  A.  M. 
2569.  The  year  in  which  the  Sun  atood  still,  in  the  days  of 
Joshua,  was  A.  M.  2554,  in  about  the  seventy-fifth  year  of 
Yao's  reign.  Thus,  what  is  recorded  in  the  Chinese  annals 
synchronizes  with  the  fact  related  in  Joshua.  The  Chinese 
records  are  said  tu  report,  that  the  Sun  did  not  set  for  ten 
days,  but  I  suspect  our  European  writers  have  not  here  ex- 
actly hit  the  meanmg  of  the  Chinese  annals,  and  that  the  word 
they  have  translated  days  may  perhaps  rather  signify  a  space 
of  time  little  more  than  one  of  our  hours.  If  so,  the  sacred 
historian  and  the  Chinese  annalist  agree  minutely  in   their 


5  Jupiter  VMS  born  A.  M.  2421.     See  book  x,  p.  66. 

<>  Clemens  •\lexandrimis  supposes  that  Phaeton  lived  aljout  the  times  of 
Crotopus;  Stromat.  lib.  i,  p.  138:  and  so  does  Tatian.  Orat  ad  Grxc.  p.  133. 
Crotopus  was  the  eighth  king  of  Aigos.  Castor.  Ruseb.  Cliron.  Crotopus,  I 
think,  died  about  A.  M.  2525 ;  so  that  Clemens  Alexand.  and  Tiitiaii  ^ceni  to 
place  Phaeton  about  tliirty  years  earlier  than  Joshua's  commanding  the  Israel- 
ites :  but  thirty  years  is  no  great  variation  in  the  chronology  of  these  timt-s. 

7  Per  hxc  tempora  diehus  decern  non  occidesse  solem,  orbemque  conflagra- 
turum  mortales  limuisse  scribunt.  Martinii  Histor.  Sinic.  lib.  i,  p.  S7. 

s  Id  page  21.  9  Id.  24.  .  «  Id.  25. 

J  Id.  32.  3  Id.  33.  ■•  Id,  35. 

s  Id.  36.  «  See  vol-  ii,  b.  vi,  p.  79, 

'  Martin,  ubi  sup. 


BOOK  XII.  HISTORY  CONNECTED.  243 

time  of  the  duration  of  this  miracle.^  If  the  Sun's  not  setting 
at  this  time  was  thus  observed  in  China,  we  may  guess  about 
what  time  of  day  Joshua  desired  this  miracle;  and  we  may 
be  sure  it  was  not  towards  the  evening,  as  some  writers  have 
supposed;^  for  had  the  day  been  ahnost  over  in  Canaan,  the 
Sun  would  have  been  set  in  China  before  the  miracle  hap- 
pened, and  therefore  could  not  have  been  there  observed  at 
all.^  It  was  therefore  a  little  before  noon  in  Canaan  when 
Joshua  desired  the  Sun  might  be  stopped,  and  about  this  time 
the  Sun  might  be  seen  by  Joshua,  in  such  a  position  as  to 
seem  to  stand  over  Gibeon,^  or  as  it  is  expressed  in  the  next 
verse,  in  the  midst  of  Heaven,^  and  it  would  be  afternoon 
in  China  at  this  time  of  day  in  Canaan,  If  the  Chinese  saw 
and  observed  this  miracle,  then  the  light  of  day,  with  which 
the  Israelites  were  favoured,  was  occasioned  by  the  Sun's 
really  not  going  down  as  usual,  and  not  from  a  vapour  or 
Aurora  shining  in  the  air,  as  Le  Clerc  and  some  others  have 
supposed.'^  For  such  a  vapour  would  not  have  been  seen 
from  Canaan  to  China,  and  could  not  possibly  have  appeared 
near  the  time  of  Sun-set  in  both  countries;  nor  would  it  have 
occasioned  the  heat  which  was  felt  in  divers  parts  of  the 
world,  during  the  time  of  the  miracle.  The  Chinese  annals 
intimate,  that  it  was  feared  the  Earth  would  have  been  set  on 
fire.  The  mythologists  relate,  that  a  conflagration  had  really 
happened ;  and  Ovid  paints  a  poetical  scene  of  it,  as  his  fancy 
prompted  him;''  and  unquestionably  the  continuance  of  the 
Sun  in  one  position  in  the  Heavens,  for  about  ten  hours  to- 
gether, must  affect  with  a  very  intense  heat,  even  places  not 
under  his  meridian  heiglit  all  that  time.  The  Israelites  would 
probably  have  been  greatly  incommoded  with  the  warmth  of 
such  a  day,  if  God  had  not  been  pleased  to  give  a  temperature 
to  the  air,  proper  to  relieve  them,  and  perhaps  suitable  to  the 
producing  that  prodigious  hail,  which  he  caused  at  this  time 
to  afflict  the  Canaanites.^  I  am  sensible,  that  such  a  suspen- 
sion or  retardation  of  the  motion  of  the  Earth,  Moon,  and 
perhaps  of  the  other  heavenly  bodies,  which  have  relation  to 
them,  as  is  necessary  to  cause  this  miracle  in  the  manner  I 
suppose  it  to  have  been  effected,  may  be  calculated  to  be  natu- 
rally productive  of  consequences  fatal  to  our  system.  But 
then  I  think  it  is  easy  to  answer  in  this  matter,  that  if  we 
have  sufficient  reason  to  induce  us  to  believe,  that  God  really 
wrought  this  miracle,  it  is  not  hard  to  conceive,  that  the 


*  Josh.  X,  13.  The  Sun  hasted  not  to  go  down  about  a  whole  day.  One 
(lay  was  as  long  as  two,  Ecclus.  xlvi,  4,  i.  e.  the  Sun  was  stopped  about  ten 
or  twelve  hours,  the  space  of  about  a  natural  day. 

9  Cleric.  Comment,  in  loc. 

>  Geographers  know  tliat  the  day  begins  and  ends  four  or  five  hours  earlier 
in  China  than  in  Canaan. 
2  Joshua  X,  12.  ^  Ver.  13.  "•  Comment,  in  lib.  Jos.  in  loc. 

*  Ovid.  Metam.  «  Josh,  x,  11. 


244  SACKED  AND  PROFANE  BOOK  XII. 

great  Ruler  of  the  universe  is  not  onl}'  able  to  direct,  beyond 
what  we  can  imagine,  but  also  as  abundantly  able  so  to  uphold^ 
all  things  hy  the  ivord  of  his  power ^  during  the  time  of  it, 
as  to  have  no  other  effect  follow  than  what  he  proposed  to 
liave  done  in  the  world.  One  design  of  the  mighty  works, 
■which  God  was  pleased  to  j^erform  before  his  chosen  people, 
■was,  if  men  would  have  paid  a  due  attention  and  regard  to 
them,  to  produce  a  reasonable  conviction,  that  the  Earth  is 
filled  icith  the  glory  and  knowledge  of  the  Lord.^  What 
they  might  have  k?ioivn  of  God,  cvoi  his  eternal  power  and 
godhead,  he  had  at  divers  times,  and  in  various  manners,  be- 
fore showed  unto  them  by  the  things  which  he  had  done^ 
from  the  creation  of  the  world}  But  as  these  things  had, 
prior  to  this  age,  lost  their  influence  in  almost  all  nations,  and 
the  world  was  departed  y)'om  the  living  God,  to  go  after  the 
Sun,  INIoon,  and  Stars,  to  serve  them,  what  could  have  been 
done  more  remarkably  worthy  of  God's  infinite  power,  to 
show  himself  to  be  a  God  above  all  gods,  than  to  have  the 
Sun  and  JNIoon  made  to  stand  still  in  favour  of  iiis  declared 
Avill,  to  support  a  people  chosen  to  be  distinguished  by  his 
worship?  The  time  of  day  in  Canaan  w^hen  this  miracle  hap- 
pened was  such,  that  the  sight  of  it  must  go  forth  through  all 
the  then  known  nations  of  the  Earth,  so  that  there  could  be 
'no  speech  nor  language,^  ivhere,  had  a  due  inquiry  been 
made  into  it,  the  voice  of  it  would  not  have  been  heard,  pow- 
erfully proclaiming,  that  however  the  world  had  been  falsely 
amused  ivith  the  beauty,  or  astonished  at  the  imagined 
power  of  the  lights  of  Heaven,-'  yet  that  there  was  a  Being 
who  ruleth  in  the  Heavens,  higher  than  them  all,  and  v.ho 
could  over-rule  and  dispose  of  any  of  them  as  he  pleased. 

After  the  defeat  of  the  army  of  the  five  kings,  Joshua  re- 
duced the  nations  of  the  south  parts  of  Canaan,  and  having 
broken  every  opposition  which  could  here  make  head  against 
him  ;  he  marclied  his  victorious  forces  back  to  Gilgal.-* 

Upon  Joshua's  return  to  Gilgal,  Jabin  king  of  Hazor,  a  city 
of  great  figure  and  command  in  the  north  parts  of  Canaan,* 
sent  unto  the  kings  of  the  nations  round  about  him,  and  pro- 
posed to  unite  their  forces,  in  order  to  act  with  their  whole 
strength  against  the  Israelites.''  These  kings  agreed  to  his 
proposal,  made  their  levies,  and  came  together  a  numerous 
and  well-appointed  army.^  They  rendezvoused  at  the  waters 
of  Merom.^  Joshua,  on  the  other  hand,  led  the  Israelites 
against  them,  under  a  special  promise  of  God's  assistance  and 
])rotection,^  and  gave  them  battle,  and  obtained  a  great  vic- 
tory.^    After  having  given  them   this  defeat,  he  turned  back, 

'  Ileb.  i,  3.  s  Numb,  xiv,  21.  ^  To/c  -roDf/xMi. 

>  Rom.  i,  19,  20,  ^  Psalm  six,  4.  ■'  Wisdom  xiii,  3,4. 

4  Joshua  X,  28—43.  ^  chap,  xi,  10.  ^  Ver.  1,  2,  3. 

'  Ver.  4.  «  Vcr.  5.  ''  Ver.  6, 
I  "\'er.  7,  8,  9. 


BOOK  XII.  HISTORY  CONNECTED.  245 

took  the  city  Hazor,  and  burned  it  to  the  ground. ^  From 
riazor  Joshua  marched  against  the  cities  of  the  other  kings, 
and  in  time  became  master  of  all  this  country,-^  but  it  was  the 
work  of  some  years  for  him  to  reduce  these  nations. ''  In 
about  five  years  he  entirely  subdued  them/  and  having  now 
triumphed  over,  in  all,  one  and  thirty  kings,°  and  obtained 
for  the  Israelites  full  room  to  settle  their  families  in  all  parts 
of  the  land,  he  was  ordered  to  put  an  end  to  the  war.'  Caleb, 
the  son  of  Jephunneh,  was  forty  years  old  when  Moses  sent 
him  as  one  of  the  spies  into  the  land  of  Canaan  f  the  spies 
were  sent  into  Canaan  after  the  tabernacle  was  erected,  in  the 
second  year  of  the  exit,^  A.  M.  2514,  Caleb  was  now  at  the 
finishing  of  the  war  eighty-five;'  so  that  the  war  was  finished 
A.  M.  2559,  I  suppose  towards  the  end  of  the  year.  Joshua 
passed  over  Jordan  on  the  tenth  day  of  the  first-  month  A.  M. 
2554,  and  began  the  war  by  the  siege  of  Jericho  a  few  days 
after.  From  this  time  to  about  the  end  of  the  year  2559  arc 
near  six  years,  and  so  long  was  Joshua  engaged  in  his  wai's 
against  the  Canaanites.  Almost  one  year  was  employed  in 
his  first  campaign  in  the  south  parts  of  Canaan,^  the  otiier  five 
were  spent  against  the  king  of  Hazor  and  his  confederates.'* 

Upon  giving  over  the  war,  Joshua  was  directed  by  God  to 
apply  himself  to  divide  the  land  of  Canaan  among  the  Israel- 
ites.* Moses,  before  he  died,  had  fixed  the  inheritance  of 
two  tribes  and  a  half  tribe  on  the  other  side  Jordan.''  There 
remained  nine  tribes  and  a  half  to  be  now  settled.^  And  unto 
these  Joshua  and  Eleazar  the  priest,  and  the  heads  of  the 
tribes,  were  preparing  to  set  out  their  inheritance.  But  be- 
fore they  began  to  make  a  division  of  the  land,  the  children 
of  Judah  came  to  them,  and  Caleb,  who  was  of  this  tril)e,  re- 
presented that  Moses  had  made  him  a  solemn  promise,  which 
might  determine  the  place  of  his  particular  inheritance.^  When 
the  spies  were  sent  by  Moses  into  Canaan,  they  went  to  He- 
bron, where  Jihiinan,  Sheshai,  and  Talmai,  the  children  of 
Jinak  were^^  and  at  their  return  they  took  occasion,  from  the 
largeness  of  the  stature  of  these  men,  to  fill  the  camp  with 
fears,  that  the  Israelites  would  never  be  able  to  make  their 
way  into  the  country  •}  but  Caleb  endeavoured  to  animate  the 
people  with  better  hopes  ;-  whereupon,  when  God  pronounced 
against  the  congregation,  that  the  men  who  had  seen  his  mira- 
cles and  glory  should  not  come  into  the  land,  but  should  die 
in  the  wilderness,^  he  was  pleased  to  promise,  that  Caleb 


Josli.  xi,  10,  11.  3  Ver.  12—17.  ^  Ver.  18. 

5  Joseph.  Antiq.  lib.  v.  c.  1.  6  Josh.  xii,  24.  ■  Cliap.  xiii.  1— : 

8  Chap.  xiv.  7.  9  See  book  xi,  p.  121.         '  Josh,  xiv,  10, 

2  Chap,  iv,  19.  3  Chap,  vi,  vii,  viii,  ix,  x. 

■iChap.  xi.  ■'■>  Chap.  xiii. 

«  Ver.  8,  32 ;  Numb,  xxxil ;  Deut.  iii,  12—17.  '  Josh,  xiii,  7. 

*  Cliap,  xiv,  6—9.  »  Num.  xiii,  22.  '  Ver.  33. 

■^  Ver.  30;  xiv,  6.  »  Ver,  22,  23. 


246  SACRED  AND  PROFANE  BOOK  XII. 

should  be  broup;ht  {el  ha  arelz,  nsher  ha  shammah)  into  the 
land,  to  the  very  place  he  ivent  to,*  and  that  his  seed  should 
yjoysess  it.^  Now  Hebron  was  the  particular  place  where 
they  went,  and  from  whence  they  brous^ht  home  the  fears 
which  had  so  disturbed  the  camp,*^  for  faithfully  endeavouring 
to  quell  which,  Caleb  had  this  particular  promise  made  to 
him  ;"  and  upon  this  account  Caleb  argued,  that  this  was  the 
place,  at  which  God  had  promised  that  he  should  be  settled, 
addina;  withal,  that  though  the  very  men  were  then  in  posses- 
sion of  it,  who  had  so  terrified  his  companions,  yet  that  he 
should  not  at  all  doubt,  but  be  enabled  to  eject  them.^  Joshua 
admitted  the  plea  of  Caleb,  and  appointed  his  inheritance  at 
Hebron;''  and  then  allotted  the  tribe  of  Judah  the  country 
from  Hebron  to  Kadesh-barnea,  as  described  in  the  xvth  chap- 
ter of  the  book  of  Joshua.  Next  after  Judah,  the  children  of 
Joseph  were  allotted  their  inheritance  ;^  and  we  have  in  the 
xvith  and  xviith  chapters  of  Joshua  a  particular  account  of  the 
boundaries  of  the  lands  assigned  to  them  ;  namely,  to  the 
tribe  of  f^pbraim,  and  to  the  half  tribe  of  Manasseh,  which 
was  to  inherit  on  this  side  Jordan. ^  The  families  of  this  tribe 
and  half  tribe  were  settled  on  the  north  side  of  the  country, 
wherein  the  camp  of  the  Israelites,  which  was  formed  at  Gil- 
"•al,  rested,  as  the  tribe  of  Judah  was  settled  on  the  south  of 
it;  so  that  the  camp  was,  as  it  were,  secured  on  either  side 
from  any  sudden  irruption  ;  and  having  proceeded  thus  far, 
the  whole  congregation  assembled  at  Shiloh,  within  the  con- 
fines of  the  tribe  of  Ephraim,^  and  there  set  up  the  taber- 
nacle.^ 

Josephus  seems  to  represent  that  the  tabernacle  had  been 
erected  before  they  began  to  divide  the  land.*  But  this,  I 
think,  is  a  mistake  ;  for  when  they  began  to  divide  the  land, 
there  were  nine  tribes  and  a  half  tribe,  which  had  no  inheri- 
tance.*^ But  at  the  time  of  erecting  the  tabernacle,  seven  tribes 
only  were  not  provided  for.^  Two  tribes  and  a  half  tribe,  be- 
sides those  who  were  to  inherit  on  the  other  side  Jordan,  had 
had  their  countries  assigned  to  them  according  to  what  is 
above  represented,  as  the  book  of  Joshua  very  plainly  inti- 
3natcs.     Thus  hr  therefore  the  Israelites  had  proceeded  ;  but 


•«  Vcr.  24.  The  Hebrew  words  arc, 

illuo     adiit     quum     in  terrmn  cl  introducam  Ciiin 
ad  ipsnm    locum  ilium 

'->  Numb,  xiv,  24.  ^  Vid  loc.  svipru  citat. 

7  Numb,  xiv,  24.  ^  Josh.  xiv.  1 2. 

9  We  must  here  remark,  lliat  the  city  of  Hebrou  was  not  the  property  and 
inheritance  of  (^alcb  :  for  Hebron  was  one  of  the  Lcvitical  cities.  Caleb's  in- 
heritmcc  consisted  of  some  fields  near  adjoining  to  this  town.  See  Joshua 
XXI.  11,12. 

«  Josh,  xvi,  l,&c.  2Chap.  xvii,  5.  3  See  Judg'cs  xxi,  19. 

'»  Josh,  xviii,  1.  ''  Joseph.  Antiq.  lib,  v,  c.  1. 

«  Josh,  xiv,  2 ;  xiii,  7.         "  Chap,  xviii,  2. 


BOOK  XII.  HISTORY  CONNECTED.  247 

they  began  to  find  difficulties  in  the  method  they  were  taking. 
To  Judah  they  had  given  too  large  a  country,^  and  Ephraim 
and  the  half  tribe  of  Manasseh  were  not  satisfied  with  what 
was  allotted  to  them,^  And  for  this  reason,  I  suppose,  they 
now  set  up  the  tabernacle.  Their  enemies  were  so  far  sub- 
dued, and  the  place  where  they  were  to  fix  it  so  surrounded 
with  the  settlements  already  made,  that  they  had  no  reason  to 
fear  any  sudden  invasion,  to  oblige  them  to  take  it  down  again.* 
And  by  having  the  tabernacle  erected,  they  would  have  power 
to  apply  to  God  for  his  immediate  direction  in  all  difficulties,-^ 
so  as  both  to  prevent  mistakes  in  their  division  of  the  land, 
and  to  leave  no  pretence  for  any  tribe's  being  dissatisfied  at 
the  lot  which  should  be  assigned  to  them. 

The  directions,  which  God  had  given  for  the  division  of 
the  land,  were  these,  1.  They  were  to  divide  the  land  by  lot^^ 
and  each  tribe  was  to  have  that  portion  of  it,  which  by  lot 
should  fall  to  him.'*  2.  When  the  lot  of  a  tribe  was  Allien,  the 
land  so  allotted  to  that  tribe  was  to  be  divided  among  the  se- 
veral families  of  it;*  which,  I  think,  was  to  be  done  partly  by 
the  lot,'^  and  only  in  part.  When  they  began  to  set  out  the 
particular  inheritances  of  the  families,  they  threw  the  lot, 
which  family  they  should  settle  first,  which  next,  and  so  on. 
And  thus  every  Tnan^s  inheritance  would  be  in  the  place 
tuhere  his  lot  fell  ;''  but  the  place  of  it  being  thus  fixed,  they 
did  not  cast  the  lot  for  the  quantity  to  be  assigned  to  a  familyj 
for  they  were  to  set  out  more  or  less  land  to  each  family,  ac- 
cording to  the  number  of  the  names  of  the  persons  belonging 
to  it.^  3.  Every  private  person  was  to  have  iiis  inheritance 
within  the  bounds  of  the  country  assigned  to  the  tribe^  to 
which  he  belonged.  4.  To  prevent  disputes  or  uneasiness  in 
or  from  the  choice  of  the  persons  who  were  to  manage  and 
direct  the  division,  God  had  expressly  named  who  should  di- 
vide the  land  unto  the  children  of  Israel;'  and,  5.  He  had  also 
set  them  bounds,  described  how  far  every  way  the  land 
reached,  which  was  to  be  divided^  by  them.  We  may  now 
examine,  what  method  Joshua  and  the  princes  of  the  congre- 
gation took,  when  they  began  to  execute  the  commission 
herein  given  them. 

Now,  I  imagine,  in  the  first  place,  that  they  cast  lots  to 
know  what  tribe  they  should  begin  with  in  making  the  divi- 
sion ;  and  the  lot  came  out  for  the  tribe  of  Judah.  The  next 
question  that  could  arise,  must  be  where  they  should  settle 
this  tribe;  and  here  Caleb  offijred  his  claim  to  have  his  inhe- 
ritance at  Hebron  •?  the  admittins:  of  which,  seems  to  have 


8  Josh,  xix,  9.  9  Chap,  xvii,  14.  '  Chap,  xviii,  1. 

-  rtee  Exod.  xx'ix,  42,  43.  ^  Nijmb.  xxxiii,  54;  xxvi,  55, 

4  Ibid.  5  Ibid.  6  ch^p  xxvi,  56. 

7  Chap  xxxii,  54.  ^IbA.  « Ibid. 

-Numb,  xxsiy,  17 — 29.     -Ver.o— 12.  »Josh.  xiv,  6. 


248  SACRED  AND  I'KOFAXE  BOOK  XII. 

rendered  all  farther  inquiry  about  the  situation  of  the  country 
to  be  assigned  to  this  tribe  superfluous;  and  also  to  have  led 
the  Israelites  to  set  out  a  tract  of  land  for  them,  more  at  ran- 
dom, periiaps,  than  they  would  otherwise  have  done.  The 
journey  of  the  spies,  upon  which  Caleb's  claim  was  founded/ 
began  from  Kadesh-barnea.  Caleb's  claim  did  not  aim  at  any 
thhig  higher  up  into  the  country  than  Hebron.  If  Caleb  was 
fixed  here,  the  tribe  to  which  he  belonged  was  to  be  settled 
contiguous  to  him.  The  tribe  of  Judah  was  the  most  nume- 
rous of  all  the  tribes;  it  mustered  76,000  men  of  twenty  years 
old  and  upwards,  when  the  sum  of  the  congregation  was  taken 
in  the  plains  of  jVIoab,^  and  consequently  a  pretty  large  coun- 
try would  be  necessary  for  it.  Now  these  considerations  seem 
to  have  induced  them  to  set  out  at  adventure  for  this  tribe  all 
the  land  between  Kadesh-barnea  and  Hebron,  according  to  the 
description  and  bounds  which  are  given  of  it.°  Having  thus 
fixed  the  tribe  of  Judah  their  country,  they  proceeded  to  allot 
each  family  a  projjer  share  and  portion  in  it;  but  when  they 
had  done  this,  they  found,  that  tJie  part  of  the  children  of 
Judah  was  too  much  for  them.''  After  each  family  of  the 
tribe  liad  received  an  inheritance  as  large  as  they  could  be 
conceived  to  have  occasion  for,  there  remained  a  tract  of  the 
country  to  spare,  and  undisposed  of.  This  must  suggest  to 
the  dividers,  that  if  they  did  not  go  into  some  stricter  method 
for  setting  out  the  assignments  to  the  several  tribes,  they 
might  in  time  be  brought  into  difficulties.  They  might  set 
out  to  the  tribes,  which  were  first  provided  for,  too  much  of 
the  land,  and  not  leave  enough  for  those  whose  lot  might 
come  up  to  be  last  settled.  Accordingly  in  their  next  ap- 
pointment they  appear  to  have  a  little  altered  their  method  of 
proceeding:  for, 

Here,  I  think,  they  first  set  out  such  a  quantity  of  the  land, 
as  they  thought  the  country  of  Canaan  might  afford  for  a  tribe. 
Then  for  the  eight  tribes  and  a  half  they  made  eight  lots,  as- 
signing but  one  lot  to  the  tribe  of  Ephraim  and  half  tribe  of 
Manasseh,  considering  them  under  one  appellation,  namely,  as 
the  children  of  Joseph.^  After  this  they  cast  the  lots  to  de- 
termine who  should  have  the  inheritance  put  up  to  be  dis- 
})osed  of,  and  the  lot  of  the  children  of  .Joseph  came  out  for  it." 
That  but  one  lot  was  here  made  for  the  sons  of  Joseph,  ap- 
pears evidently  from  their  complaint  to  Joshua:  The  children 
of  Joseph  spake  unto  Joshua,  saying,  Wliy  hast  thou  given 
me  but  one  lot,  and  one  portion  to  inherit?^  The  children 
of  Joseph,  here  concerned,  were  more  than  a  tribe:  they  were 
a  tribe  and  a  half  tribe,  and  in  all  respects  a  flourishing  peo- 
ple;^ and  they  ought  not  to  have  been  put  thus  together,  and 


1  Numb,  xxxii,  8;  Josh,  xiv,  7. 

'•  Josli.  xxvi,  2: 

e  Chap.  XV.                                     ■  Cliap.  xix,  9. 

s  Chap,  xvi,  1. 

■»  Ibid;  ver.  1,  2,  3,  4.                '  Chap,  xvii,  M. 

-  Vcr.  15,  ir 

BOOK  XII.  HISTORY  CONNECTED.  249 

represented  only  in  one  lot;  when,  if  they  had  been  a  tribe 
only,  one  lot  would  have  been  assigned  to  them.  This  com- 
plaint of  the  sons  of  Joseph  intimates  also,  that  the  quantity 
of  land,  for  which  the  lots  were  cast,  was  settled,  and  the 
bounds  of  it  agreed  upon,  before  the  lots  were  cast  for  it, 
otherwise  the  complaint  would  have  been  groundless;  for  if 
this  had  not  been  the  case,  where  would  have  been  the  hard- 
ship of  the  sons  of  Joseph  being  represented  by  only  one  lot, 
when  the  dividers  of  the  land  might,  upon  finding  them  to  be 
the  persons  to  be  provided  for,  have  set  them  out  as  much 
land,  and  half  as  much  land,  as  they  would  have  portioned  out 
to  a  tribe,  if  the  lot  of  a  single  tribe  had  come  up  upon  this 
occasion?  But  herein  the  sons  of  Joseph  argued  the  ine- 
quality of  procedure.  A  tract  of  land  was  set  out  for  the  in- 
heritance of  a  tribe.  In  the  lots  they  were  represented  but  as 
a  tribe,  and  hereby  the}'  received  not  a  portion  and  a  half  por- 
tion, to  which  the}'  might  think  they  had  a  just  claim,  but  one 
single  portion  only  f  for  any  other  single  tribe,  if  their  lot 
had  come  up  for  it,  would  have  had  all  the  country  which  was 
assigned  to  them.  After  it  was  determined  what  country  the 
sons  of  Joseph  were  thus  to  have,  it  remained  to  consider  how 
to  divide  it  between  their  families.  Herein  the  lot  was  to  be 
used;'*  and  the  dividers,  having  perhaps  fixed  where  they 
would  begin  to  set  out  the  lands,  might  cast  the  lots  to  know 
whether  they  should  settle  the  families  of  Ephraim  first,  or  of 
Manasseh.  They  began,  I  think,  in  the  parts  nearest  the 
camp,  with  the  families  of  Ephraim,*  and  having  provided  for 
them  in  order  as  their  lot  directed,*'  and  given  each  family  a 
greater  or  a  lesser  inheritance,  as  the  number  of  persons  be- 
longing to  it  required,^  there  remained  the  portion  to  be  di- 
vided to  the  half  tribe  of  Manasseh,^  v/hich  they  distributed 
to  them  in  like  manner;^  adding  to  them,  over  and  besides  the 
residue  of  what  was  first  allotted,  some  tracts  of  land  taken 
from  the  coasts,  which  were  afterwards  assigned  to  the  tribes 
of  Asher  and  Issachar;^  for,  upon  their  repeated  remonstran- 
ces,2  Joshua  did  indeed  confess,  that  they  were  a  great  people, 
and  that  one  lot  only  was  not  altogether  enough  for  them.' 

There  were  seven  tribes  to  be  still  provided  for,"*  but  before 
they  proceeded  any  farther,  the  whole  congregation  assembled 
at  Shiloh,  and  set  up  the  tabernacle.*  Then  Joshua  proposed 
to  the  people  to  name  to  him  seven  men,  one  out  of  each  tribe, 
that  he  might  send  them  out  to  survey  the  country  which  re- 
mained still  to  be  divided.^  What  was  already  done  he  was 
for  having  ratified  and  confirmed  ;  fhaf  Jiidah  should  abide 
in  their  coasts  on  the  south,  and  the  house  of  Joseph  in 

9  Josh,  xvii,  14.  <  Vid.  quse  sup.  5  Josh,  xvi,  5. 

8  Vid.  quae  sup,  7  Numb,  xxxiii,  54.  »  Josh  xvii,  2. 

9  Ver,  7,  8s.c.  »  Ver.  11.  2  Ver.  14,  16, 
3  Ver.  17.  4  Chap,  xviii,  2.  5  Ibid.  I. 

*  Ver.  4, 

Vol.  III.  I  i 


^^50  SACUED  AND  PROFANE       UOOK  XII. 

their  coasts  on  the  north  i'  each  of  these  were  to  keep  what 
had  heen  assigned  to  them.  And  the  persons  appointed  to 
make  the  survey  of  the  lands  not  yet  disposed  of,  were  to 
cast  their  survey  into  seven  parts,  and  to  bring  their  accounts 
of  it  in  a  book  to  Shiloh,  where  Joshua  purposed  to  have  the 
lots  thrown  before  the  Lord,  at  the  tabernacle,  to  determine 
for  each  tribe  his  part  of  it.^  The  proposal  w'as  received  with 
universal  approbation.  The  men  were  appointed,  and  brought 
in  their  survey;  and  Joshua  cast  the  lots  in  Shiloh,  before  the 
LoRD,^  a)id  divided  the  land  accordins^  to  their  divisions ;^ 
that  is,  he  made  no  alteration  in  any  of  the  seven  parts,  which 
the  men  who  took  the  survey  liad  agreed  upon,  but  each  tribe, 
as  their  lot  came  up,  had  the  country  for  which  the  lot  was 
drawn,  as  the  surveyors  had  described  it. 

From  the  account  we  have  in  the  book  of  Joshua,  of  the 
order  and  part  of  the  country,  in  which  each  of  these  seven 
tribes  were  settled,^  we  may  easily  apprehend  in  what  manner 
the  lots  were  drawn  for  them.  First,  it  was  agreed  to  draw 
for  the  land,  which  lay  between  Judah  and  the  sons  of  Joseph  ; 
the  countries  where  the  camp  had  been  so  long  at  Gilgal,  and 
this  fell  to  the  tril)e  of  Benjamin.^  The  second  lot  was  cast 
for  the  land,  whicli  remained  over  and  above  what  was  occu- 
])ied  by  the  tribe  of  Judah,  and  this  fell  to  the  tribe  of  Simeon."* 
The  third  lot  was  bounded  by  the  Sea  of  Tiberias,  and  this 
fell  to  the  tribe  of  Zebulun.*  Fourthly,  they  drew  for  the 
land  between  Zebulun  and  the  sons  of  Joseph,  and  this  fell  to 
the  tribe  of  Issachar.''  The  fifth  lot  gave  to  Asher  the  country 
next  to  the  north  extent  of  the  land  to  be  divided.'^  The  sixth 
lot  assigned  to  Naphtali  a  country  east  to  Asher.*  And  the 
last  lot  remained  for  Dan,  and  placed  him  upon  the  border  of 
the  Philistines.^  It  is  remarked,  that  the  coast  of  the  chil- 
dren of  Dan  went  out  too  little  for  them  ;^  an  observation 
probably  not  made  by  Joshua.  The  words  following  it  hint 
the  expedition  which  the  Danites  made  afterwards  against 
Lcshem.  Therefore  the  children  of  Dan  went  vp  to  fight 
against  Lestiem,  and  took  it,  and  smote  it  ivith  the  edge 
of  the  sword,  and  possessed  it,  and  dwelt  therein,  and 
called  it  Dan,  after  the  name  of  Dan  their  father.^  These 
words  cannot  be  supposed  to  have  been  written  by  Joshua, 
for  they  speak  of  an  expedition  not  made  until  after  his  death  ;^ 
therefore  I  think  that  this  whole  verse  is  an  addition  to  the 
sacred  pages,  made  in  the  manner  of  some  others,  which  I 
have  observed  to  be  of  a  like  nature.^  The  children  of  Dan 
^vere  indeed  a  large  people ;  they  mustered  64,400   men  of 

'  Josh,  xvili,  5.  8  Ver.  6.  s  A'er.  9. 

>  Ver.  10.  2  Ibid.  ver.  11,  to  vcr.  48  of  chap.  xix. 

3  Chap,  xviii,  11.  i  Cliap.  xix,  1.  5  Ver  10. 

6  Ver.  17.  '  Ver.  24.  s  Ver.  32. 

»  Ver.  40.  >   Ver.  47.  2  Ibid. 

3  Judg.  xviii.  "»  See  Prideaux's  Connect,  part  i,  b.  v,  p.  492. 


BOOK  Xir.  HISTORY  CONNECTED.  251 

twenty  years  old  and  upwards,  when  the  poll  was  taken  in  the 
plains  of  Moab/  Judah  only  was  a  bigger  tribe.  But  I  do 
not  imagine,  that  the  surveyors  of  the  land  had  made  their 
assignments  so  injudiciously,  as  to  have  any  very  remarkable 
disproportion  appear  in  any  of  them.  The  coast  of  Dan  was  too 
little  for  themf  probably  not  that  the  country  assigned  them 
was  not  in  itself  large  enough  to  receive,  and  produce  an  abun- 
dant provision  for  all  their  families,  but  because  all  their  in- 
heritance did  not  fall  unto  them.''  The  Philistines  were  in 
their  full  strength  -^  part  of  whose  territories  was  in  this 
country  ;^  and  the  Amorites  possessed  other,  the  most  fruitful 
parts  of  it ;'  so  that  the  children  of  Dan  had,  comparatively 
speaking,  possession  of  only  a  small  part  of  what  was  intended 
to  be  their  inheritance.  And  we  do  not  find,  that  they  en- 
larged themselves;^  therefore  as  their  families  increased,  they 
must  have  been  in  straits  in  a  country,  of  which  they  had  so 
imperfect  a  tenure.  Otherwise,  from  the  fruits,^  and  pasturage 
of  this  part  of  Canaan,''  not  to  mention  that  they  had  un- 
doubtedly corn  fields,  as  well  as  their  neighbours,  on  their 
very  borders,^  not  to  suggest  how  many  of  the  tribe  of  Dan 
might  abide  in  ships,*"  and  have  the  advantages  of  employment 
in  a  sea-life,  we  may  judge,  that  had  a  full  possession  of  their 
whole  allotment  fallen  to  them,  a  mighty  and  a  great  people 
might  have  flourished  and  increased  in  it. 

The  sacred  writer  has  given  us  a  very  particular  account  of 
the  bounds  and  extent  of  the  country  assigned  to  each  tribe  '^ 
but  we  cannot  hope  to  be  able  to  trace  out  their  borders  witli 
the  same  exactness.  Canaan  must  have  been  too  much  altered 
from  what  it  was  in  the  days  of  Joshua;  for  perhaps  the  Jews 
themselves,  in  their  later  days,  have  found  the  face  of  things 
different  from  what  it  appeared  in  these  times.  Ten  of  the 
twelve  tribes  of  Israel  were  lost  in  the  captivity.^  Two  tribes 
only,  Benjamin  and  Judah,  with  some  few  families  of  the 
other  tribes  incoi'porated  with  them,  returned  from  Babylon.'-* 
And  the  number  which  returned  was  comparatively  so  small,^ 
that,  if  all  Canaan  had  been  restored  to  them,  they  would  in 
nowise  have  been  sufficient  to  enter  upon  a  full  possession  of 
what  had  been  the  inheritance  of  the  twelve  tribes  in  their 
several  divisions  of  it.  Judea  alone  was  a  country  more  than 
large  enough  for  them,  and  they  were  obliged  to  contrive 
means,  that  Jerusalem  itself  should  not  want  people.^  In  this 
state  of  things,  the  country  of  the  ten  tribes  might  not  be 


"  Numb,  xxvi,  43.  "^  Josli.  xix,  47.  ''  See  Judg^.  xviii, 

■*  Josh.  x\x,  2. 

■^  Compare  Josh,  x'.x,  43,  with  xiii,  3;   1  Sam.  v,  10;  vi,  16,  17. 

I  Judg  1,35.  2  Ver.  31,  35.  »  See  Numb,  xiii 

•t  Oen.  xxxvili,  13.  3  Judg.  xv,  5.  «  Chap,  v,  17. 

'  Josh,  xiii,  XV,  xvii,  xviii,  xix. 

^  Prideaux,  Connect,  part  i,  b.  li. 

''  M.  b.  iii.  1  Id.  ibid.  *  Nehem.  xi. 


^52  SACRED  AND  PROFANE       BOOK  XII. 

much  inquired  after.  Other  nations  of  people  were  become 
the  possessors^  of  it,  and  the  bounds  of  the  inheritances  which 
had  formerly  been  known  in  it  might  be,  in  a  few  ages,  not 
to  be  ascertained  with  great  exactness,  even  before  the  times 
of  a  very  late  posterity.  Accordingly,  I  think,  we  find  not 
only  Adrichomius,  and  other  modern  chorographers,  giving 
us,  in  many  particulars,  very  confused  and  unscriptural  ac- 
counts of  the  situation  of  divers  of  the  ancient  towns  of  these 
countries,'  but  even  Josephus  himself  rather  able  to  say  at 
large,  whereabouts  each  tribe  had  been  placed,  than  to  describe 
with  exactness  the  borders  of  their  situations.  He  represents 
that  Zebulun  had  his  country  from  the  Lake  Gcnnesaret  to 
Mount  Carmel,  and  to  the  sea;*  but  we  cannot,  I  think, con- 
ceive, that  this  tribe  had  this  situation.  That  the  country  of 
Zebulun  touched  upon  Gennesaret  is  indeed  confirmed  by  St. 
Matthew  f  but  how  shall  we  extend  it  from  thence  to  Carmel, 
and  to  the  sea  ?  Asher  reached  to  Carmel  westward  ■J  Ephraim 
and  Manasseh  met  together  in  Asher  on  the  north.*  The  only 
point,  where  these  two  tribes  could  thus  meet,  must  be  at  the 
sea  of  Carmel;''  but  they  could  not  meet  in  this  point,  if  the 
land  of  Zebulun  lay  there  between  them.  I  might  observe 
farther;  Zebulun's  inheritance,  according  to  what  Jacob  had 
prophesied  of  him,  was  to  reach,  not  unto  Carmel,  but  unto 
Zidon;^  and  undoubtedly,  according  to  this  account  of  what 
was  to  be  his  border,  his  portion  was  in  due  time  assigned  to 
him.  We  must  therefore  suppose,  that  the  inheritance  of  this 
tribe  had  been  extended  from  Gennesaret,  between  the  lands 
of  Asher  and  Naphtali,  up  to  the  northern  extent  of  Canaan ; 
and  in  this  manner  the  border  of  Zebulun  miglit  indeed  be 
unto  Zidon.  Zidon  was  a  town  perhaps  not  of  Zebulun,  but 
of  Asher ;-  Zebulun's  country  then  reached  only  to  the  bor- 
ders of  it.^ 

When  Joshua  and  the  persons  in  commission  with  him  had 
viade  an  end  of  dividing  the  land  for  inheritance  by  their 
coasts  ;'^  the  children  of  Israel  gave  an  inheritance  to  Joshua. 
They  gave  him  the  city  which  he  asked,  even  T'imnath- 
Serah  in  Mount  Ephraim,  and  he  built  the  city,  and 
divelt  therein.^  What  he  asked  for  was  in  a  situation  not 
occupied  by  any  to  whom  inheritances  had  been  given ; 
for  it   was   in   Mount    Ephraim,   probably   in  that  part  of 

3  Prideaux.  ubi  sup.  -i  Walton,  in  Prolep^om.  ad  Bib,  Poly.^lot. 

ij-a-iv  sxa;^'''-     Joseph.  Antuj.  lib.  v,  c    I. 

6  Mar.  IV,  13.  '  Josh,  xix,  26. 

9  Chap,  xvi,  10. 

9  Any  map  of  the  country  will  present  this  to  view. 

I  Gen.xiix,  13.  -  iiee  Josh,  xix,  27,  28. 

•5  I  might  observe,  tliat  the  givin^j  Zebulun  tins  situation  agrees  with  .hd- 
other  hint  of  Joshua;  that  Zebulun  lay  east,  or  to  the  sun-risiny  of  Asher 
Josh,  xix,  27. 

*  Josh,  xix,  49,  50.  «  Ibid. 


BOOK  XII.  HISTORY   CONNECTED.  253 

the  hill,  of  which  Joshua  had  observed  to  his  people,  that 
it  was  a  wood,  and  that  they  might  cut  it  down,  and 
open  to  themselves  an  enlargement  of  their  borders  in  the 
outgoings  of  it.*'  If  Timnath-Serah  Avas  a  town  before  Joshua 
built  it,  it  might  perhaps  be  an  old  ruined  village,  which  had 
been  long  evacuated  in  this  wild  and  overgrown  country ;  so 
that  Joshua  asked  a  property,  such  as  might  give  him  an  op- 
portunity of  being  an  example  to  his  tribe  for  improving  their 
inheritance,  to  instruct  them  how  to  make  their  allotment 
commodious  for  them.  Joshua  built  the  city,  and  dwelt 
therein  :  in  so  commanding  a  situation,  we  may  conceive  that 
he  formed,  as  it  were,  a  new  and  beautiful  country  round 
about  him  ;  and  planted  himself  not  inelegantly,  and  agreeably 
to  a  taste,  which  the  ancients  of  almost  all  countries  were  not 
strangers  to  in  their  early  times/ 

The  inheritances  being  fixed,  the  Israelites  appointed  the 
six  cities  of  refuge,  and  agreed  upon  the  cities  to  be  set  out 
in  every  tribe  for  the  Levites  to  dwell  in.^  All  things  being 
now  hereby  settled  for  the  Israelites  to  enjoy  their  respective 
possessions  in  every  part  of  the  land,  Joshua  called  together 
the  Reubenites,  Gadites,  and  the  half  tribe  of  Manasseh,  whose 
inheritances  were  on  the  other  side  Jordan,  and  having  made 
a  public  acknowledgment  of  their  assistance  to  their  brethren, 
and  of  their  having  now  punctually  fulfilled  all  that  Moses 
had  required  of  them,  he  strictly  charged  them  to  resolve 
most  stedfastly  to  keep  the  law.  He  likewise  ordered  them 
their  share  of  the  spoil  of  the  conquered  nations,  and  dismissed 
them,  in  order  to  their  going  home  to  their  own  possessions.^ 
The  two  tribes  and  a  half  drew  off  from  the  congregation,  and 
began  their  march  towards  their  own  country.^  When  they 
were  come  to  Jordan,  before  they  passed  the  river,  they  built 
a  very  large  altar,  near  the  place  where  the  Israelites  had  for- 
merly come  over  into  Canaan  f  intending  to  leave  here  a  last- 
ing monument  to  all  future  ages,  that  they  acknowledged 
themselves  to  belong  to  the  tribes  in  Canaan,  and  that  they 
had  no  separate  altar  in  their  own  country,  but  that  the  altar 
at  which  they  were  to  sacrifice  was  on  the  other  side  the  river, 
before  the  tabernacle  of  the  Lord  their  God.^  A  rumour  of 
what  they  were  doing  soon  came  to  Shiloh,  at  which  the  con- 
gregation there  were  greatly  alarmed.''  The  Israelites  in 
Canaan,  not  knowing  their  intention,  were  afraid  they  were 
setting  up  an  altar  for  themselves  ;  and  that  they  intended  to 
fall  off  from  the  worship,  which  the  law  commanded,  and  re- 
solved upon  a  war  against  them,  rather  than  suffer  an  innova- 
tion, which  they  apprehended  would  bring  down  the  divine 

6  Jf.sh.  xvii,  18. 

■?  VMOi  TTtiKUc  fAupct;  Kxt  <T\jnx^'  6t;  tc/c  c/^£5•/l',  i'i-:t^  w  noli  ttaxowa;  tsctj,'^ 
otKHTioii  !ruv«S-»f.     Dionys.  Ilalicar.  lib.  i,  c.  12. 

8  Josh.  XX,  xxi.        '         9  Chap,  xxii,  1—8,  i  Ver.  9. 

'  Josh,  xxii,  11.  '^  \\y.  ^l — 29.  '  Ver.  11—20, 


254  SACRED  AND  PROFANE  BOOK  XII. 

vengeance  upon  all  Israel.^  Hereupon  they  sent  an  embassy/' 
The  two  tribes  and  the  half  tribe  explained  their  intention  to 
the  princes  who  were  sent  to  theni,^  so  that  they  returned 
with  an  account  which  gave  great  satisfaction  to  the  congre- 
gation,* who  thereupon  blessed  God,  that  their  brethren  were 
not  guilty  of  the  defection  from  his  worship,  which  they  had 
imputed  to  them.^  Thus  with  great  joy  they  laid  aside  the 
preparations  which  they  were  making  for  a  war.* 

As  the  sword  of  Joshua  had  been  fatal  to  the  Canaanites, 
wherever  he  had  marched  against  them ;  for  we  read  of  all 
the  nations  conquered  by  him,  that  he  utterly  depopulated 
them,  as  the  Lord  God  of  Israel  had  commanded  ;^  so  it  is 
supposed,  that  many  companies  fled  before  him  out  of  every 
country,  and  escaped  into  foreign  lands.  Procopius,  who 
flourished  in  the  time  of  Justinian,  mentions  some  pillars  near 
the  place  where  Tangier  is  now  situate,  with  an  inscription 
upon  them  in  old  Phoenician  letters  to  this  purpose,  We  are 

THE  FUGITIVES  FROM  THE  FACE  OF  JoSHUA,  THE  ROBBER, 

THE  SON  OF  Nun  f  and  the  Hebrew  writers  tell  us,  that  the 
whole  nation  of  the  Girgashites  escaped  into  this  country,* 
But  the  sacred  historian  intimates  the  contrary  ;  for  the  Gir- 
gashites were  one  of  the  nations  that  fought  with  the  Israelites.* 
It  is  not  indeed  probable,  that  in  the  battles  fought  by  Joshua 
every  person  of  every  nation  subdued  by  him  fell  by  the 
sword.  Some  remains  of  every  kingdom  might  escape,  as 
iEneas  and  a  few  Trojans  did  in  a  succeeding  age  from  the 
ruin  of  Troy.  And  if  any  little  companies  in  this  manner 
took  their  flight  in  Joshua's  first  campaign,  when  he  over- 
threw the  kings  of  South  Canaan,  they  might  make  their 
route  by  way  of  Egypt  into  these  parts  of  Africa,  or  they 
might  fly  into  the  land  of  the  Philistines,  which  was  not  yet 
(jonquered  ;**  and  from  towns  on  these  coasts,  of  repute  for 
shipping  in  these  days,'  they  might  sail  for  foreign  lands,  and 
a  voyage  from  these  parts  to  Africa  was  suitable  to  the  skill 
of  these  times  in  the  art  of  sailing,  it  fell  naturally  down 
along  the  coast  from  Canaan  to  Egypt,  to  Lybia,  and  without 
a  necessity  of  going  a  great  distance  out  of  sight  of  shore. 
Such  a  voyage  Dido  made  afterwards  from  Tyre  to  Carthage. 
When  Alexander  the  Great  was  to  make  his  entry  into  Baby- 
lon, there  were  embassies  attending  him  from  divers  nations, 
who  had  employed  their  agents  to  give  him  a.  state  of  their 
several  interests  and  aflairs,  and  to  beg  he  would  accept  an, 


-  Josh,  xxli,  11—20.  »  Ibicl.  '  Ver.  21—29. 

8  Ver.  33.  ^  Ibid.  '   Ver.  33. 

2  Chap.  X,  40. 

3  Procop.  in  Vandalicis. :    Uochart   Prn:f.  in   lib.  tic   Colon,  et   Sermon. 
Phccnic. 

J  Uab.  S.  15.  Nachman.  Gem.  Hlcrosol. ;  vid.  Seidell,  de  Jur.  Xat.  et  Gen- 
tium, lib.  vi,  c.  13. 

•  Jnvh,  xxiv,  11,  ^'  riiap.  xiii,  3,  '  Sec  Judges  v,  17. 


liOOK  XII,  HISTORY  CONNECTED.  255 

arbitration  of  their  differences.^  Arrian  mentions  that  am- 
bassadors from  Africa  waited  upon  him  at  this  time  f  and  the 
Talmudical  writers  say  that  the  Canaanites  abovementioned, 
who  had  fled  into  Africa,  were  the  people  who  made  him  this 
compliment;  and  that  their  deputies  were  instructed  to  lay 
before  Alexander,  how  the  Israelites  had  expelled  their  an- 
cestors, and  to  entreat  him  to  restore  them  back  to  their  old 
oountry  again.^  But  whether  this  was  not  a  mere  fancy  of 
these  writers,  and  whether  Procopius  had  a  sufficient  infor- 
mation of  what  he  related,  I  cannot  determine. 

Other  writers  tell  us  that  Canaan  sent  out  many  colonics 
into  divers  parts  of  the  world  in  these  times,-  and  Bochart 
hints  that  the  states  of  Lesser  Asia,  of  Greece,  and  the  isles  in 
the  iEgean  Sea,  received  many  companies  of  Canaanites  who 
fled  from  their  own  country.  But  whoever  will  duly  examine 
the  labours  of  this  writer,  will  fmd  that  his  whole  work  upon 
this  subject  shows  rather  a  very  learned  appearance  of  argu- 
ment, than  true  and  real  argument  to  support  his  opinion. 
The  foreigners  who  might  come  from,  or  pass  through  Canaan 
into  these  countries,  came  earlier  than  the  times  of  Joshua;  of 
which  Bochart  himself  could  not  but  feel  a  conviction  in 
many  particulars.  There  were  no  revolutions  in  Greece,  or 
its  neighbour  islands,  w^hich  happened  after  the  days  of  Jo- 
shua, but  what  may  be  accounted  for  without  any  migrations 
from  Canaan  into  these  countries.  In  like  manner,  the  states 
in  Lesser  Asia,  which  were  of  figure  in  the  succeeding  times, 
and  particularly  the  kingdom  of  Troy,  which  grew  to  be  the 
mistress  of  these  parts,  were  formed  and  growing  up  in  their 
own  strength,  before  Canaan  was  in  trouble.  And  the  wars 
of  Joshua  seem  to  have  been  so  far  from  having  had  any  effect 
which  extended  itself  towards  these  countries,  that  we  find 
nations  through,  or  nigh  unto  which  great  routes  of  exiles 
must  have  passed,  if  any  considerable  migrations  had  been 
made  out  of  Canaan  into  Lesser  Asia,  in  these  days,  open  and 
unguarded  against  incursions,  careless,  quiet,  and  secure,  un- 
der no  apprehensions  that  any  neighbouring  people  might 
want  settlements  and  be  tempted  to  dispossess  them,-'  of  which 
they  could  not  have  been  insensible,  if  many  troops  had  passed 
their  borders  in  their  flight  to  foreign  lands.  The  Israelites 
had  indeed  reduced  many  kingdoms  of  Canaan,  and  divided 
their  countries,  to  each  tribe  their  share;  but  they  had  not  so 
entirely  dispersed  and  destroyed  the  inhabitants,  but  that  in  a 
little  time  they  got  togetiier  again,  formed  themselves  to  a 
new  strength,  and  were  able  to  dispute  with  their  conquerors, 
whether  they  should  have  the  towns,  which,  when  pressed  by 

8  Arrian.  de  Expedit.  Alexaiid.  lib.  vii,  p.  476.  ^  Id.  ibid. 

>  Vid.  Geni:tr.  Habylon.  ad  Tit.  S.anhed.  c.  11,  f.  91  :  Seldcn  de  Jure  Natural, 
et  Gent,  lib  vii,  c.  8. 

-  Vid.  Bochart.  de  Colon,  et  Scrm.  Phoenlc. 

-  See  .Uidges  xviii,  7. 


256  SACRED  AND  PROFANE  BOOK  XII. 

Joshua  to  a  precipitate  flight,  they  seemed  to  have  evacuated 
and  given  up."*  1  must  add  to  all  this,  that  there  were  many 
states  and  cities  of  Canaan  that  stood  still  in  their  strength, 
unattacked  by  the  Israelites,*  who  were  able  afterwards  to 
bring  into  the  field  numerous  armies.''  To  these  the  scattered 
remains  of  the  nations  which  were  reduced  did  undoubtedly 
fly;  and  it  is  reasonable  to  suppose,  that  the  cities  to  which 
they  fled  might  be  willing  to  receive  and  provide  for  them, 
in  order  to  strengthen  themselves  by  an  addition  of  people, 
rather  than  to  have  them  desert  the  country  and  leave  Ca- 
naan. It  is  very  probable,  an  increase  of  people  in  this  man- 
ner was  what  raised  the  strength  of  the  Philistines  in  a  few- 
ages,  so  as  to  make  them  more  than  a  match  for  all  Israel.^ 

Joshua  lived  several  years,  after  he  had  fixed  the  Israelites 
in  their  settlements  in  the  land,^  and  had  the  satisfaction  to 
see  them  happy  in  a  scene  of  great  peace  and  quiet  all  the 
rest  of  his  days.  He  was  now  old  and  stricken  in  years  ;- 
and  as  he  did  not  expect  to  be  much  longer  with  them,  he 
summoned  a  congregation  of  all  Israel,'  represented  the  great 
things  which  God  had  done  for  them,  observed  to  them  how 
he  had  been  enabled  to  assign  them  their  inheritance,^  and  as- 
sured them,  that  if  they  would  truly  and  strictly  keep  the 
law,  and  not  associate  themselves  contrary  to  it,  with  the  na- 
tions, which  as  yet  were  not  expelled  the  land,  that  God  would 
certainly,  in  due  time,  entirely  drive  them  out,  and  give  the 
Israelites  full  possession  of  all  Canaan.^  But,  said  he,  on  the 
other  hand,  if  ye  do  not  persevere,  but  shall  incline  unto  the 
remnant  of  the  nations  which  are  left,  and  make  marriages  and 
alliances  with  them,  then  God  will  not  drive  them  out,  but  the 
nations  with  whom  ye  shall  have  thus  engaged  yourselves, 
shall  be  snares  and  traps,  scourges  and  thorns  to  you,'^  shall 
in  various  ways  seduce  and  incommode,  bring  distress  and  ca- 
lamities upon  you,  until  ye  shall  perish  from  off  this  good  land, 
which  the  Lord  your  God  hath  given  you.*  I,  in  a  little 
time,  shall  die  and  leave  you;  but  suffer  me  to  remind  you, 
how  punctually  hitherto  every  good  thing  has  befallen  you, 
which  God  promised;  and  let  me  tell  you,  that  every  evil, 
which  God  lias  threatened,  will  as  exactly  come  upon  you,  if 
ye  transgress  the  covenant  of  the  Lord  your  God.^ 

Some  time  after,  he  summoned  the  tribes  to  Shechem,^  and 
sent  thither  for  the  elders  of  Israel,  and  for  their  heads, 
and  for  their  judges,  and  for  their  officers  to  attend  him  be- 
fore the  LoRD,^   where  he  repeated  to  them  all  the  mercies 


<  Judges  i,  1,  compared  with  Josli.  xii,  13. 

5  See  Josh,  xiii,  2—6.  ''  Jiuljjes  i,  4.  '  A'id.  lib.  Samuel. 

8  Josh   xxiii,  1.  »  Ibid.  '  Ver.  2. 

-  Ver.  3,  4.  »  Ver  5— H.  '^  Ver.  13. 

'■•  Ver   15.  <!   Ner.  14—16.  "  Chap,  xxiv,  1. 

8  Some  copies  of  the  LXX  read  Shiloh  and  not  Shechem  in  th.s  place,  and  as 
Josliua  and  the  elders  are  baid  to  have  presented  themselves  before  God,  i.  e.  at 


BOOK  XII.  HISTORY  CONNECTED.  257 

which  God  had  vouchsafed  to  their  fathers  and  to  them,  from 
the  calling  of  Abraham  down  to  that  day  ;^  then  he  desired 
them  to  consider  and  resolve  Avhether  they  would  indeed  faith- 
fully serve  God,  or  whether  they  would  choose  to  fall  away 
to  idolatry.^  Upon  their  assuring  him  that  they  would  not 
forsake  the  Lord  to  serve  other  gods,^  Joshua  reminded 
them,  that  to  serve  their  God  was  a  thing  not  so  easy  to  be 
done  as  said,^  for  that  God  would  be  strict  in  demanding  from 
them  a  punctual  performance  of  what  he  had  required,  and 
that  if  they  should  be  remiss,  or  unmindful  of  it,  that  his 
vengeance  would  most  certainly  fall  upon  them.^  Hereupon 
they  repeated  their  resolution  to  serve  the  Lord.^  Well  then, 
said  Joshua,  if,  after  all  this,  ye  will  not  do  it,  let  your  own 
declarations  this  day  testify  against  you;**  unto  which  the 
people  readily  assented/  Thus  did  Joshua  summon  them  to 
a  most  strict  engagement,  never  to  vary  or  depart  from  the 
law  which  God  had  given  them.^  And  that  a  lasting  sense  of 
what  they  had  in  so  solemn  a  manner  agreed  to,  might  re- 
main upon  them,  he  wrote  what  had  passed  in  the  book  of  the 
law,'*  and  set  up  a  pillar  of  remembrance  of  it,^  and  then  dis- 
missed the  people.  Not  long  after,  Joshua,  being  a  hundred 
and  ten  years  old,  died,  and  was  buried  on  the  north  side  of 
the  hill  of  Gaash,  in  the  border  of  his  inheritance  in  Timnath- 
Serah.2  Josephus  informs  us  that  Joshua  governed  the  Israel- 
ites twenty-five  years  after  the  death  of  Moses,^  accordingly 
we  must  fix  the  time  of  his  death  about  A.  M.  2578. 


the  Tabernacle,  agreeably  to  which  sense  of  the  expression  it  appears,  ver.  26, 
that  they  were,  at  their  holding  their  meeting-,  by  or  at  the  sanctuary  of  the 
Lord;  and  as  the  tabernacle  was  set  up,  not  at  Shechem,  but  at  Shiloh,  chap, 
xviii,  1,  it  may  be  thought,  that  here  is  some  mistake,  and  that  Shiloh  not 
Shechem  was  the  place  to  which  Joshua  convened  the  tribes  of  Israel.  Some 
of  the  critics  thought  the  ark  and  tabernacle  were  removed  to  Shechem  against 
the  holding  of  this  convention,  but  we  have  no  hints  of  the  fact  having  been 
so,  nor  occasion  to  suppose  it.  Shechem  and  Shiloh  were  about  twelve  miles 
distant  from  one  another.  Joshua  lived  at  Timnath-Serah,  a  place  almost  in 
the  mid-way  between  them.  He  summoned  the  tribes  to  meet  in  the  fields  of 
Shechem  ;  and  from  thence  he  called  the  heads  of  the  tribes  and  oiRcers  to  at- 
tend him  to  Shiloh  to  present  themselves  before  God.  All  the  tribes  of  Israel 
were  gathered  to  Shechem ;  but  not  all  the  tribes,  rather  the  heads,  judges  and 
officers  only,  presented  themselves  before  God.  A  meeting  of  all  the  tribes 
must  form  a  camp,  not  to  be  accommodated,  but  in  a  large  and  open  country. 
Shechem  had  in  its  borders  fields  enough  for  the  reception  of  all  the  people; 
See  Gen.  xxxiii,  19.  Here  therefore  they  met,  and  from  Iience  made  sucli 
detachments  to  Shiloh,  a  place  in  the  neighbourhood,  as  the  purposes  tor  wliich 
they  were  convened  required.  Take  the  fact  to  have  been  thus,  and  the  diffi- 
culties, which  some  commentators  surmise  in  this  passage,  do  all  vanish. 

9  Josh,  xxiv,  2—13.  i  Ver.  14,  15. 

^  Ver.  16,  17.  18.  3  Ver.  19. 

"  Ver.  20.  s  Ver.  21. 

"^  Ver.  22.  7  ibid, 

5  Ver  25.  9  Ver.  26. 

'  Ver.  27.  2  Ver.  29,  3f'. 

^  Joseph.  Antiq.  lib.  v,  c.  1. 

V^OL.   III.  K   k 


;i5S  SACRED  AND  PROIAKE  BOOK  XIT, 

It  has  been  a  matter  of  dispute  among  the  learned,  whether 
Joshua  was  himself  the  author  of  the  book  which  is  called  by 
his  name.'*  But,  1.  It  is  obvious,  that  the  book  of  Joshua 
seems  to  hint,  that  a  person,  one  of  the  Israelites,  who  made 
the  miraculous  passage  over  Jordan,  was  the  writer  of  it.  This 
the  first  verse  of  the  fifth  chapter  intimates  :  When  all  the 
kings  of  the  Jltnorites  ....  heard,  that  the  Lord  had 
dried  up  the  rvaters  of  Jordan  from  before  the  children  of 
Israel,  until  we  were  passed  over^  •  •  • ;  the  writer  would 
not  have  here  used  the  first  person,  JVE  were  passed  over^ 
if  himself  had  not  been  one  of  the  persons  wlio  had  passed  the 
river  :^  2.  It  is  evident  that  this  book  was  written  before  Ra- 
hab  died ;  for  we  are  told,  that  Joshua  sailed  Rahab  the  har- 
lot alive,  and  her  father^ s  household,  and.  all  that  she  had, 
and  she  dwelleth  in  Israel  to  this  day?  The  writer  was 
here  willing  to  record  to  posterity,  that  Rahab  had  not  only 
"her  life  given  her,  but  that  she  was  so  well  received  by  the 
Israelites,  as  to  continue  even  then  to  dwell  among  them;  a 
remark  which  could  not  have  been  made  after  Rahab  was 
dead;  and  consequently  the  book  which  has  it  must  have 
been  composed  whilst  Rahab  was  yet  alive.^  Rahab  was  af- 
terwards married  to  Salmon,  the  son  of  Naasson,^  the  head  of 
the  house  of  Judah;'  had  she  been  so,  when  the  book  of 
Joshua  was  composed,  I  imagine  that  the  author  of  it,  as  he 
appears,  by  the  hint  above  mentioned,  inclined  to  intimate  all 
the  good  circumstances  of  her  condition,  would  not  have 
omitted  that,  and  consequently,  by  her  marriage  not  being 
mentioned,  we  havp  somp  reason  to  tlunk  that  the  book  of 
Joshua  had  been  written,  not  late  in  Rahab's  life.  3.  We 
are  expressly  informed,  that  Joshua  did  himself  write,  and 
add  what  he  wrote  to  the  book  of  the  law  of  God.^  4.  The 
words  which  inform  us  of  this  fact  may,  if  taken  in  their  na- 
tural sense,  and  according  to  the  construction  put  upon  words 
of  the  like  import,  when  we  find  them  upon  ancient  monu- 
ments or  remains,  be  supposed  to  be  Joshua's  conclusion  of 
his  book,  designed  by  him  to  inform  posterity,  that  himself 
was  the  writer  of  it.     Joshua  wrote  these  ivords  i?i  the  book 


■»  Vid.  Pool.  Synop.  Critic.  Cleric,  in  Dissert,  de  Scriptorib.  Historic;  Vet. 
Testam.  Carpzov.  introduc.  ad  Libros  Hist.  Vet.  Test. ;  et  al. 

5  The  Hebrew  words  are,  in3j?-ny 

•»  I  ought  not  to  omit,  that  the  marginal  reference  in  the  Hebrew  Bibles 
reads  the  word  a-ojj ;  but  the  learned  allow  that  the  Hebrew  Keri  and  Kctib 
are  not  of  such  authority,  that  we  must  be  absolutely  determined  by  it 
M'alton.  Bibl.  Polyglot.  Prolcgom.  viii,  c.  26. 

'  Joshua  vi,  25* 

**  The  remark  is  not  that  Rahab's  family,  descendants,  or  father's  household 
were  then  in  Israel;  but  the  verb  is  3it'n>,  in  the  tiiird  person  feminine,  and 
refers  to  Rahab  in  particular. 

9  Matt,  i,  5.  I  Numb,  i,  7. 

-  Joshua  xxiv,  26. 


iiOOK  XII.  HISTORY  CONNECTED,  259 

of  the  law,  &c.  may  fairly  imply,  unless  we  have  good  reason 
to  think  the  fact  was  otherwise,  that  all  that  was  found  written 
in  the  book  of  the  law,  from  the  end  of  what  was  penned  by 
the  hand  of  Moses,  unto  the  close  of  the  period,  of  which 
these  words  are  a  part,  was  written  by  Joshua,  and  this  was 
the  opinion  of  the  Talmudists.^  Joshua  was  the  only  sacred 
penman  whom  we  read  of  that  the  Israelites  had  in  his  age; 
and  after  he  had  finished  the  division  of  the  land,  he  had  many 
years  of  great  leisure."*  In  these  he  probably  applied  himself 
to  give  account  of  the  death  and  burial  of  Moses,*  and  from 
thence  continued  a  narrative  of  what  had  been  transacted  un- 
der his  own  direction,''  filling  it  up  with  a  general  terrier  of 
the  settlements  of  the  tribes,^  such  as  must  have  been  expe- 
dient for  the  Israelites  to  have  on  record,  to  prevent  confusion 
about  their  inheritances  in  future  ages.  After  having  done 
this,  he  summoned  the  tribes,^  gave  them  his  exhortations, 
and  having  added,  to  what  he  had  before  prepared,  an  account 
of  the  conventions  which  he  had  held,  and  what  had  passed  at 
them,  he  transcribed^  the  whole  into  the  book  of  the  law, 
and  then  dismissed  the  people.^  Accordingly,  I  take  the 
work  of  Joshua  to  begin  from  where  Moses  ended,  at  the 
xxxivth  chapter  of  Deuteronomy,  and  to  end  with  the  27th 
verse  of  the  xxivth  chapter  of  Joshua,  As  Joshua  thus  added 
at  the  end  of  Deuteronomy  the  account  of  Moses's  death ;  so 
what  we  find  from  the  28th  verse  of  the  xxivth  chapter  of 
Joshua  to  the  end  of  that  book,  was  unquestionably  not  writ- 
ten until  Joshua  and  all  the  elders  his  contemporaries,  who 
outlived  him,  were  gone  off  the  stage,^  and  was  added  to  the 
end  of  the  book  of  Joshua,  by  some  sacred  penman,  who  was 
afterwards  employed  to  record  the  subsequent  state  of  the  af- 
fairs of  Israel. 

As  to  the  objections  made  against  Joshua's  being  the  writer 
of  the  book  so  called,  they  are  but  inconsiderable.  It  is  re- 
marked, that  there  are  many  short  hints  and  intimations  in 
divers  parts  of  the  book,  which  appear  evidently  of  later  date 
than  Joshua's  time.  Of  the  stones  which  Joshua  set  up  at 
Gilgal,  it  is  observed  that  they  were  there  untd  this  day,  a 
remark  very  proper  to  be  made  in  a  distant  age,  but  not 
likely  to  be  hinted  by  Joshua,  of  a  monument  designed  by 
him,  not  so  much  for  his  own  times,  as  for  the  information  of 
a  late  posterity.'*  Of  the  Canaanites  in  divers  tribes  it  is  sug- 
gested, that  the  Israelites  did  not  drive  them  out,  but  admitted 
them  to  live  among  them,  and  made   them  pay  tribute;*  and 

3  Bava  Bathra,  cap,  1.  •»  Joshua  xxiii,  1. 

5  Ueut.  xxxiv.  6  Joshua  i— xii, 

7  Chap  xii— xxii,  s  Chap,  xxiii,  2. 

3  Chap,  xxiv,  26.  i  Ver.  28. 

-  Ver    U.  '  Chap,  vn,  26. 

I  Chap,  iv,  21,  22.  •■'  Chap,  xiii,  9;  xvi,  10 


260  SACRED  AND  PROFANE        BOOK  XII. 

of  the  tribe  of  Dan,  that  they  went  up  against  Leshem.^  But 
this  expedition  was  not  taken  until  after  Joshua's  death/  nor 
did  the  tribes  of  Israel  come  to  agreement  with  the  inhabitants 
of  Canaan,  whilst  Joshua  was  living  f  therefore  all  these  ob- 
servations must  have  come  not  from  Joshua,  but  from  a  later 
hand.  We  are  told,  that  what  Joshua  wrote  about  the  Sun 
and  Moon's  standing  still  was  also  found  in  the  book  of 
Jasher  f  but  the  book  of  Jasher  was  more  modern  than  these 
times.  It  contained  hints  of  what  David  desired  the  children 
of  Judah  might  be  taught,^  and  therefore  was  a  book  probably 
not  in  being  until  David's  age.  In  like  manner,  a  tract  of 
land  in  the  xixth  chapter  of  Joshua  is  called  Cabul,-  but  this 
country  seems  not  to  have  had  this  name  until  Hiram  called 
it  so  in  the  days  of  Solomon.^  I  might  add  to  these  some 
other  observations  of  a  like  sort;"*  but  how  obvious  is  it  to  re- 
ply to  all  of  them  ?  1.  That  the  observation  of  Rahab's  being 
alive^  suggests  that  the  book  of  Joshua  had  been  composed 
long  before  any  of  these  more  modern  intimations  could  be 
given  ;  and  consequently,  that  none  of  these  could  be  in  the 
original  book  of  Joshua.  2.  The  learned  are  abundantly  satis- 
fied, that  there  are  many  little  strictures  and  observations  of 
this  nature  now  found  in  divers  parts  of  the  sacred  books, 
which  were  not  written  by  the  composers  of  the  Ijuoks  in 
which  they  are  found. "^  3.  Dean  Pi-l<lcciux  says  of  them  that 
they  were  additions  made  by  Ezra,  when,  upon  the  return 
from  the  captivit_y,  he  collected  and  settled  for  the  Jews  a 
correct  copy  of  their  holy  Scriptures.''  What  authority  this 
most  learned  writer  had  for  this  opinion,  I  cannot  say;  I  sus- 
pect it  proceeded  from  a  desire  to  preserve  the  same  regard 
for  these  additions  and  interpolations  which  is  due  to  the  sa- 
cred writings ;  for  he  says,  Ezra  was  assisted  in  making  these 
additions  by  the  same  Spirit  by  which  the  books  were  at  first 
written.^  But,  whether  Ezra  made  his  copy  of  the  Scriptures 
from  original  books  of  them  then  extant;  or  rather,  whether 
he  did  not  make  his  copy  from  collecting  and  comparing  such 
transcribed  copies  as  were  in  the  hands  of  the  Israelites  of  his 
time;  whether  in  the  copies  he  consulted,  the  additions  we 
are  speakyig  of  might  not  stand  as  marginal  hints  made  by 
private  hands  in  their  copies  of  the  sacred  books;  whether 
Ezra  could  ever  design  either  to  add  to  the  sacred  books,  or 
to  diminish  ought  from  them  f  though  perhaps  finding  divers 


c  Cliap.  xix,  47.  ''  Judg.  xviii. 

8  Joshua  i.  '  Chap,  x,  13. 

'  2  Sam.  i,  18.  -  Joshua  xix,  27. 

'*  1  Kings  ix,  13. 
"I  V'id.  Cleric.  Dissertat.  de  Scriptoribus,  lib.  llistor.  Vet.  Testam. 

5  Joshua  vi,  25. 

6  See  Pridcaux,  Connect,  part  i,  book  v. 

■^  Id.  ibid.  »  Ibid.  5  Proverbs  xxx,  6. 


BOOK  XII.  HISTORY  CONNECTED.  261 

of  these  intimations  of  use  to  the  reader  for  illustrating,  and 
comparing  one  part  of  the  sacred  writings  with  another,  or 
suggesting  what  might  explain  an  obscure  or  antiquated  name 
or  passage  in  them,  he  might  take  such  as  he  judged  thus  ser- 
viceable into  his  copy  also ;  but  whether  he  did  not  insert 
them  in  his  copy,  as  marginal  hints  and  observations  only ; 
and  whether  their  being  made,  as  we  now  find  them,  part  of 
the  text,  has  not  been  owing  to  the  mistake  or  carelessness  of 
later  transcribers  from  Ezra's  copy;  are  points  which  I  sub- 
mit, wnth  all  due  deference,  to  the  judgment  of  the  learned. 


END  OP  VOL.  III. 


STRICTURES 

ON 

DR.  SHUCKFORD'S  ACCOUNT 

OP 

THE  HEATHEN  GODS, 

AND 

EGYPTIAN  DYNASTIES  BEFORE  MENES; 

PRECEDED  BY 

A    SHORT    ACCOUNT    OF    THE    MANNER    IN    WHICH    THE 

EGYPTIANS  BURIED  THEIR  DEAD  j 

WHENCE  ORIGINATED 

THE  GRECMJV  FABLE  OF  CffJROAr,  HIS  BARK,  AXD 
THE  STYGIAN  LAKE. 


BY   THE 

RIGHT  REV.  DR.  R.  CLAYTON 


BISHOP  OF  CLOGHER. 


STRICTURES^ 


THERE  is  ti  remarkable  circumstance  attending  the 
lake  Moeris,  which  shows  the  situation  of  the  city  of 
Memphis  to  have  been  originally,  as  described  by  He- 
rodotus, southward  of  the  Pyramids  and  the  Plain  of 
Mummies,  or  the  burial  place  of  the  Egyptians.  This 
circumstance  occurs  from  the  name  given  to  this  lake, 
even  at  this  day,  by  the  Arabians ;  namely,  the  Birque. 
or  Lake  of  Charon.  As  it  is  acknowledged  that  the 
Plain  of  Mummies,  or  burying  place  of  the  ancient 
Egyptians,  lies  to  the  north  of  the  lake  Moeris;  there- 
fore in  order  that  the  corpses  of  the  Egyptians  might  be 
brought  by  boat  to  this  burial  place,  it  was  necessary 
they  should  come  somewhere  from  the  south.  And  as 
Memphis  lay,  according  to  Herodotus,  on  the  south- 
east corner  of  the  lake  Moeris  ;  it  is  more  than  probable, 
that  it  was  the  custom  of  transporting  the  corpses  of  the 
ancient  inhabitants  of  Memphis,  in  Charon's  ferry  boat, 
from  Memphis  to  the  Plain  of  Mummies,  which  first 
occasioned  this  denomination  to  be  given  to  that  lake  ; 
and  also  the  inventions  of  the  Grecian  poets  in  a  great 
part  of  the  heathen  mythology.  This  is  positively  as- 
serted by  Diodorus  Siculiis,  who  mentions  it  as  an  Egyp- 
tian custom  of  ancient  date,  for  persons  to  be  appointed 
at  every  one's  interment  to  examine  their  past  lives. 
'^  Before  the  body  was  buried,"  says  he,  "the  relations 
of  the  deceased  gave  notice  both  to  the  judges  and 
friends  of  the  deceased,  of  the  day  appointed  for  the 
interment,  saying,  that  such  a  one,  naming  the  deceased 
by  his  name,  is  about  to  pass  tlie  lake.  Then  the  judges, 
being  in  number  forty,  sitting  in  a  place  prepared  for 

Vol.  in.  '  LI 


4  BISHOP  CLAYTON- S  STRICTURES 

them  ill  the  form  of  a  semicircle,  on  the  other  side  of  the 
lake,  the  corpse  was  brought  over  in  a  boat,  conducted 
by  a  person,  who  in  the  Egyptian  tongue  was  called 
Charon ;  but  before  the  corpse  was  suffered  to  be  put 
into  its  coffin,  every  one  was  permitted  to  accuse  the 
dead  person.  If  he  was  found  to  have  lived  a  wicked 
life,  the  judges  gave  sentence  that  he  should  not  be  al- 
lowed to  be  buried  ;  but  if  no  accuser  appeared,  or  the 
accuser  was  convicted  of  falsehood,  then  the  friends  of 
the  deceased  made  a  funeral  oration  in  his  favour,  and 
put  the  corpse  into  its  coflin,  and  carried  it  to  the  place 
of  interment.  Those,  who  were  condemned  to  be  un- 
worthy of  sepulture,  either  on  account  of  crimes  or 
debts,  were  carried  home'  again  by  theii"  friends,  and 
prohibited  from  being  put  even  into  a  coflin.  '*  Orpheus, 
having  observed  this  custom,*'  says  he,  "^  from  thence 
framed  the  fables  of  the  infernal  Deities."  In  the  fol- 
lowing chapter  he  particularly  mentions  Memphis  as 
the  place  from  whence  Orpheus  borrowed  the  scene  of 
the  lake  Acherusia,  and  the  Elysian  fields.  ''•There 
are,*'  says  he,  "  about  Memphis  delightful  fields  and 
lakes  filled  with  aromatic  reeds;  and  in  this  place  the 
Egyptians  for  the  most  part  bury  their  dead.  And  these 
corpses  being  brought  over  the  lake  Acherusia  to  the 
burying  place  of  the  Egyptians,  and  there  deposited, 
has  given  rise  to  all  those  fictions  which  the  Grecians 
have  raised  concerning  the  infernal  deities.*'  Here  it 
is  to  be  observed,  that  these  aromatic  reeds,  with  which 
this  lake  and  the  adjoining  lands  abound,  are  in  the  ori- 
ginal called  a;^£pa>f<$,  acheroes^  and  therefore  it  is  proba- 
Ijle  that  this  lake  was  from  thence  denominated  •  A;^fpacr(a 
^Hivr,j  the  Acherusian  lake:  which  also  shows  the  ab- 
surdity of  all  those  derivations  of  the  word  Acheron, 
that  are  to  be  found  in  the  Greek  lexicons.  And  pro- 
bably these  acheroes  are  tiie  same  with  those  sweet 
scented  reeds,  or  canes,  as  they  arc  called  in  the  He- 
brew, which  are  mentioned  Exod.  xxx,  23,  and  Jcr.  vi, 
20,  which  were  used  by  the  Israelites  in  the  composition 
ol"  their  perfumes ;  and  are  spoken  of  as  being  brought 
from  a  far  country. 

This  however  is  manifest  from  what  is  before  said, 
that  the  lake  Mceris,  or  the  Achcrusian  lake,  or  the 
Birque  of  Charon,  bordered  on  the  city  of  Memphis, 


and  lay  between  tliat  city  and. the  Plain  of  Mummies,  or 
the  burying  place  of  the  Egyptians. 

We  have  already  seen,  that  the  situation  of  Memphis, 
and  the  custom  of  the  Egyptians  in  burying  their  dead, 
by  carrying  them  to  the  Plain  of  Mummies  in  Charon's 
ferrv  boat  across  the  Acherusian  lake,  first  gave  origin 
to  the  Grecian  fiction  of  the  Elysian  fields,  with  the  in- 
fernal judges  Minos,  Rhadamanthus,  and  ^acus,  &c. 
And  Herodotus  is  very  positive,  that  Hesiod  and  Homer, 
who  lived  only  about  four  hundred  years  before  him, 
were  the  first  who  regulated  the  system  of  tlie  Grecian 
theology,  assigned  names  to  the  several  gods,  and  allot- 
ted them  their  several  employments.  Dr.  Sliuckford, 
however,  has  undertaken  to  give  us  tlieir  real  history ; 
and  in  the  first  volume  of  his  Connection  supposes,  from 
Syncellus  and  Manetho,  that  the  eight  demi-gods,  and 
fifteen  heroes  of  the  Egyptian  dynasties  before  Menes, 
were  real  persons  livifig  in  Egypt  before  the  Flood. 
••  For,''''  says  he,  **  Manetho  rightly  conjectures,  that 
they  were  antediluvians."  But  if  they  were  such,  how 
could  Manetho  or  any  one  else  come  by  their  history? 
These  eight  demi-gods,  he  says  from  Diodorus,  were 
Sol,  Saturnus,  Rhea,  Jupiter,  Juno,  Vulcanus,  Vesta, 
and  Mercurius.''  Whereas  Herodotus  declares,  that 
Juno  and  Vesta  were  names  utterly  unknown  in  Egypt. 
And  in  the  third  volume  of  his  Connection,  Dr.  Shuck- 
ford  gives  us  the  memoirs  of  the  life  of  Jupiter,  and 
supposes  him  to  have  lived  in  Greece  from  about  the 
time  of  Moses  to  within  three  or  four  centuries  of  the 
Trojan  war.  He  seems  to  place  the  principal  scene  of 
his  activity  about  seven  or  eight  generations  before  the 
war  of  Troy;  and  gives  him  a  most  numerous  progeny. 
And  because  most  of  t!ic  kingdonis  in  Greece  derived 
the  origin  of  their  state  at  about  the  distance  of  seven 
or  eight  generations  of  descent  from  Jupiter,  he  there- 
fore concludes,  that  Jupiter  lived-  about  the  time  of 
Moses.  Whereas  the  true  conclusion  to  be  deduced 
from  thence  is,  not  that  Jupiter  lived,  but  that  the  use 
of  letters  was  not  known  in  Greece  till  about  seven  or 
eight  generations  of  descent  before  the  war  of  Troy; 
about  which  time  Moses  lived,  and  a  little  after  which 
Cadmus  first  introduced  them  into  Greece.     For'  Cad- 

=■  Sluickford's  Connection,  vol,  i,  p.  41..  '•Ibid,  vol.  ii,  p.  196. 

'  Apollod.  lib.  iii. 


6  lilSllOP  CLAYTON'S  STRICTURES 

Hills  was  father  to  Polydo^'iis,  the  father  of  Labdacus, 
the  father  of  Laiiis,  the  father  of  Oedipus,  the  fatlier  of 
Polynices,  the  father  of  Thyrsander,  who  was  one  of  the 
warriors  at  the  siege  of  Troy.  Accordingly  Diodorus 
observes/  tliat  Seniele,  the  daughter  of  Cadmus,  was 
the  last  of  mortals  with  whom  Jupiter  had  any  intrigues. 
Hence,  it  may  be  presumed,  that,  as  before  that  time, 
when  the  Grecians  were  at  a  loss  for  the  geiiealogy  of 
their  kings  or  princes,  they  fathered  them  upon  Jupiter; 
so  now  the  introduction  of  letters  put  an  end  to  his 
amours.  Therefore  it  is  most  probable,  tliat  there  never 
was  any  such  real  person  as  Jupiter,  in  Greece,  any 
more  than  there  v.ere  such  real  persons  as  Chronus, 
Uranus,  or  Tellus,  in  Piioenicia,  Assyria,  or  Egypt. 
Whereas  Dr.  Shuckford  collects  from  Diodorus  and 
ApoUodorus,  that  Chronus  was  the  son  of  Uranus,  and 
that  from  Uranus  and  Tythiea,  or  Tellus,  were  also 
born  the  Centimani  and  the  Cyclops,  whom  their  father 
Uranus  sent  to  inhabit  the  land  of  Tartarus.  What  or 
where  that  coiuUry  was,  which  was  tlius  named,  he  says, 
may  be  diflicult  to  determine;  but  gravely  concludes 
that  it  can  be  no  part  of  Ci-ete. 

Now,  ff  we  look  into  the  description  of  Chronus, 
given  by  Sanchoniathon,  it  will  plainly  convince  us, 
that  the  representation  was  not  talien  from  any  real  per- 
son; but  the  design  of  it  was  only  to  give  us  a  symbolical 
description  of  time,  as  the  name  properly  imports.  For 
he  is  described  with  four  eyes,  two  before,  and  two  be- 
hind; two  of  which  were  always  shut,  and  two  were 
always  open;  denoting  that  time  has  a  reference  both  to 
what  is  past,  and  what  is  to  come;  and  is  always  upon 
the  watch,  even  wheji  it  seems  to  be  at  rest.  He  was 
also  delineated  with  four  wings,  two  of  which  were 
stretched  out  as  in  the  action  of  flight,  and  two  were 
contracted  as  in  repose;  denoting  that  time,  even  when 
seemingly  stationary  passes  on,  and  when  flying,  is  yet 
seemingly  at  a  stand.  Chronus  is  likewise  by  Sanchonia- 
thon said  to  have  dispatched  hk  son  witli  his  own 
hand,  and  cut  oft*  the  head  of  his  own  daugliter,  &:c.; 
which  is  only  a  metaphorical  account  of  time's  destroy- 
ing his  own  produce.  For  thus  Cicero,  speaking  of  the 
real  opinion  whicii  the  ancients  had  of  Chronus,'  saith, 

J  Diod.  lib.  iv,  c.  2.  '  Cicero  dc  Xat.  Dcor.  lib.  ii,  25. 


•^  Saturnum  autem  eura  esse  voluerunt,  qui  cursum  et 
conversionem  spatiorum  ac  temporum  contineret,  qui 
deus  GVsece  id  ipsum  nomen  habet :  Khorog,  enini  dici- 
tur,  qui  est  idem  X^ovog,  id  est,  spatium  temporis.  Sa- 
turnus  autem  est  appellatus,  quod  saturetur  aunis.  Ex 
se  enim  natos  commesse  fingitur  solitus,  quia  consumit 
setas  temporum  spatia,  annisque  prseteritis  insaturabili- 
ter  expletur.*' 

Dr.  Shuckford  also  gives  us  a  history  of  the  court  of 
Jupiter  upon  earth ;  and  supposes  that  Neptune  and 
Phito  were  his  brothers,  Juno  his  wife,  Vesta  and  Ceres 
his  sisters ;  Vulcan,  Mars,  Apollo,  Diana,  Mercury, 
Venus,  and  Minerva  his  children :  and  imagine  that 
they  all  had  been  deified  after  their  death,  on  account  of 
their  having  so  wisely  established  the  government  of 
Crete.  But  I  cannot  conceive  how  he  will  be  able  to 
reconcile  this  with  the  eight  demi-gods  of  Manctho ; 
among  whom  are  Jupiter,  Juno,  Vulcan,  Vesta,  and 
Mercury,  supposed  by  him  to  have  reigned  in  Egypt 
before  the  Elood ;  and  who,  as  he  positively  asserts  in 
another  place,  certainly  lived  before  the  Flood.'"  And 
again,  speaking  of  the  same  deities,  he  says,  '^  the  truth 
is  they  were  their  antediluvian  ancestors."^' 

Whereas  the  truth  is,  they  were  their  postdiluvian 
ancestors,  some  of  whom  were  of  Egyptian,  some  of 
PhoBnician,  and  some  of  Grecian  origin.  The  Phoenicians 
and  Grecians  were  they  who  introduced  into  Egypt  the 
custom  of  worshipping  gods  in  the  form  and  figure  of 
men ;  as  appears  manifestly  even  from  the  famous  god 
Vulcan,  to  whom  a  temple  was  erected  by  Menes  in 
Memphis.  For  it  is  plain  from  the  very  form  of  the 
statue,  as  described  by  Herodotus,  that  this  was  one  of 
the  Dii  Patseci  of  the  Phoenicians,  being,  as  he  says, 
like  those  Phoenician  figures  which  are  placed  in  the 
prows  of  their  ships,  and  called  riaraa'ot,  not  exceeding 
the  figure  of  a  pigmy.  And  in  another  place  he  says, 
that  that  quarter  of  the  city  of  Memphis,  where  the 
temple  of  Vulcan  stood,  was  inhabited  by  Phoenicians 
from  Tyre ;  and  that  all  that  region  was  called  the  Ty- 
rian  camp.  Herodotus  mentions  also  a  temple  built  to 
Perseus  in  the  city  of  Chemis  in  the  province  of  Thebes; 
but  at  the  same  time  says  that  gymnastic  exercises  were 

■  Sluicktbrd's  Connection,  vol.  ii,  p.  195.  e  Ibkl,  vol.  ii,  p.  197. 


S  BISHOP  CLAYTON  S  STRICTURES 

there  instituted,  entirely  agreeing  with  those  used  in 
Greece.  Which  plainly  shows  that  the  origin  of  that 
temple  and  worship  had  been  Grecian. 

Hence  it  appears,  in  considering  the  antiquities  of 
Egypt,  how  necessary  it  is  to  distinguish  between  the 
customs,  inscrij)tions,  and  deities  of  the  original  Egyp- 
tians, that  is,  of  those  who  were  the  aborigines  of  the 
country ;  and  those  customs,  inscriptions,  or  deities, 
which  were  introduced  afterwards  by  the  Phopnicians  or 
Grecians,  who  came  in  later  ages  to  inliabit  there;' 
though  tlicy  are  all  equally  called  Egyptian.  Otherwise 
we  shall  not  be  able  to  reconcile  many  seeming  difficul- 
ties, as  well  in  Herodotus  as  in  later  writers.  Thus,  for 
instance,''  Herodotus  affirms,  that  the  custom  of  pre- 
dicting future  events  was  derived  from  the  Egyptians. 
And  the  account  he  gives  of  it  is  this  :  the  priests  of  the 
Theban  Jupiter  told  him  that  two  priestesses  were  car- 
ried out  of  that  country  by  certain  Phoenicians,  who 
afterwards,  as  they  were  informed,  sold  one  in  Libya, 
and  the  other  in  Greece ;  from  which  priestesses  the 
people  of  those  countries  learned  the  art  of  divination. 
Whereas,  when  he  is  describing  the  customs  of  the  abo- 
rigines Egyptians,  he  expressly  says'  that  no  woman  can 
act  as  a  priest  of  any  god  or  goddess  ;  men  only  being 
employed  in  that  office. 

The  Grecians  were  a  people  of  a  lively  imagination, 
and  readily  took  any  traditionary  hint,  given  by  the 
Egyptians,  and  improved  it  into  a  regular  fable.  Of  this 
there  is  a  remarkable  instance  in  the  story  related  by 
Diodorus  and  Plutarch  of  the  birth  of  five  gods,  when 
'^  Rhea  being  with  child  by  Saturn,  was  discovered  by 
the  Sun,  who,  upon  finding  out  lier  baseness,  laid  a 
curse  upon  her,  that  she  should  not  be  delivered  in  any 
month  or  year :  that  Mercury  being  in  love  with  the 
goddess,  lay  with  her  also ;  and  then  played  at  dice 
with  the  Moon,  and  won  from  her  the  seventy-second 
part  of  each  day,  and  made  up  of  these  winnings  five 
days,  which  he  added  to  the  year,  making  the  year  to 
consist  of  three  hundred  and  sixty  five  days,  whicb  be- 
fore consisted  of  three  hundred  and  sixty  days  only  :  and 
that  in  these  days  Rhea  brought  forth  five  children, 
Osiris,  Orus,  Typho,  Isis,  and  Nephthe.'" 

''  IleroJ.  lib.  ii.  '  Ibid, 


ON  DR.  SHUCKFORD  S  CONNECTION,  9 

Tt  is  a  dispute  between  Dr.  Warburtoii  and  Dr. 
Shuckford,  wliether  these  five  personages  were  deified 
before  the  invention  of  this  mythological  story.  They 
both  agree  indeed  that  this  story  could  not  have  been 
invented  before  the  addition  was  made  of  the  five  days 
to  the  year;  which  they  both  likewise  allow  to  have 
been  about  A.  M.  2665,  a  little  after  the  death  of 
Joshua.  But  according  to  Sir  Isaac  Newton, *"  it  is  much 
more  truly  computed  to  iiave  been  about  *^  one  hundred 
and  thirty-seven  years  before  the  sera  of  Nabonassar  be- 
gan, in  the  year  of  the  Julian  period  three  thousand 
eight  hundred  and  thirty,  or  ninety-six  years  after  the 
death  of  Solomon,'*  wliich  corresponds  with  A.  M.  3066. 
Dr.  Shuckford  supposes  that  tliis  fable  was  invented  in 
order  to  celebrate  the  deification  of  these  five  deities : 
whereas'  Dr.  Warburton  much  more  reasonably  supposes 
that  this  fable  was  invented  to  celebrate  the  addition  of 
the  five  days  to  the  year. 

Dr.  Shuckford'"  says,  that  the  Egyptians  generally 
ascribe  all  their  sciences  to  Pathros,  whom  they  called 
Thyoth.  In  proof  of  which  he  quotes  Jamblichus  Do 
Mysteriis  jEgyptiorum.  But  I  cannot  find  that  Jam- 
blichus, in  his  whole  treatise  De  Mysteriis,  once  men- 
tions the  name  of  Pathros. 

He  speaks  indeed  of  Hermes  having  written  twenty 
thousand  volumes,"  or,  as  Meneteussays,  thirty-six  thou- 
sand five  hundred  and  twenty-five  volumes;  and  begins 
his  treatise  with  saying.  That  the  Egyptian  writers, 
thinking  Hermes  was  the  inventor  of  arts  and  sciences, 
ascribed  all  these  books  to  Hermes,  who  was  reputed  the 
god  of  wisdom  and  eloquence:  That  Pytliagoras,  Plato, 
Democritus,  Eudoxus,  and  many  others  went  to  visit  the 
Egyptian  priests :  That  Pythagoras  and  Plato  learned 
their  philosophy  from  the  pillars  of  Mercury  in  Egypt; 
which  pillars,  says  he,  are  full  of  learning.  But  he  no- 
where explains  who  this  Hermes  was.  Dr.  Shuckford 
says  also  that  Pathros,  whom  he  calls  ••  Pathrusium,"  is 
supposed  to  have  first  invented  the  use  of  letters ;  but 
Naphtuhim  is  said  to  have  learnt  both  them,  and  several 
other  useful  arts  from  him,  and  instructed  his  people  in 
them.  In  proof  of  this  Dr.  Shuckford  quotes  Syncellus 
and  Sir  John  Marsham ;  but  unfortunately  neither  Syn- 

:^  Newt.  Chron.  p.  81.  i  Div.  Leg.  vol.  ii,  part  i,  p.  189, 

™  Stiuckford's  Connection,  b.  iv,  p.  134.    "  Jam.  de  Deo.  et  Deis. 


10  BISHOP  CLAYTON  S  STRICTURES 

cellus  nor  Mai'sham  say  one  word  about  Naphtuhim, 
that  1  could  find. 

If  we  look  into  Plutarch,  we  shall  see  that  the  inha- 
bitants of  Thebais  in  Upper  Egypt  were  alone  of  all  the 
Egyptians  free  from  taxes  toward  supporting  the  sacred 
animals,  because  they  worsliipped  only  the  god  Cueph; 
whom  I  suppose  to  be  the  same  with  Neph,  as  Ham  was 
indifferently  called  Cham  or  Ham.  And  Eusel)ius''  says, 
from  Philo-Byblius,  that  that  idol,  under  the  figure  of 
a  serpent  with  the  head  of  a  hawk,  which  the  Phoeni- 
cians called  Agathodaemon,  or  the  good  dremon,  the 
Egyptians  called  Cneph. 

And  what  proves  that  this  Cneph  or  Neph  was  not  an 
imaginary  idol,  but  a  real  man,  who  had  been  deified 
by  some  of  his  admirers  for  his  great  endowments,  is, 
that  Eusebius^  likewise  says,  the  Egyptians  worshipped 
the  god  Cneph  under  the  image  of  a  king  with  a  girdle 
about  his  waist  and  a  sceptre  in  his  hand,  and  an  egg 
coming  out  of  his  mouth  ;  which  egg  was  looked  upon 
as  an  emblem  of  the  world.  And  Strabo**  says,  that 
there  was  in  an  island  adjoining  to  Syene  the  temple 
and  nilometre  of  the  god  Cneph  ;  whom,  according  to 
the  Greek  termination  of  the  word,  he  calls  Cnuphis. 
Which  nilometre,  or  machine  for  measuring  the  increase 
of  the  Nile,  shows  that  this  god  Cneph,  Cnuphis,  or 
Ne])h,  had  been  some  remarkable  person  living  near 
Syene,  who  had  been  famous  for  the  use  of  characteris- 
tic marks  in  his  observations  on  the  rise  of  the  Nile. 
For,  says  Strabo,  '•  this  nilometre  was  a  canal  cut  out 
of  one  entire  stone  on  the  bank  of  the  Nile,  in  which 
were  engraven  several  lines  to  detiote  the  difierent  in- 
creases of  the  Nile ;  to  which  were  also  added  several 
characteristic  marks,  to  denote  upon  certain  days  the 
future  increase  of  the  Nile.  By  observing  these  persons 
of  skill  were  capable  of  forming  certain  presages  of  the 
ensuing  season  ;  and  could  prognosticate,  whether  it  was 
likely  to  be  fruitful  or  otlierwise.*' 

What  confirms  this  opinion  further  is  the  great  variety 
of  emblematical  figures  under  which  the  gods  Cnupli 
and  Thoth  were  characterised :  all  which  secrn  plainly 
to  have  taken  their  origin  from  the  nilometre  of  the  god 

"  Euseb.  Prxp.  lib.  j,  c.  10.  f  Id.  lib.  iii,  c.  11. 

1  Stiabo,  p.  Sir. 


ON  DR.  SHUCKFORD  S  CONNECTION.  11 

Cnuphis  near  Syene.  For  since,  as  Strabo  expressly 
says/  the  Egyptian  temples  had  no  images  in  them,  that 
is,  none  of  human  form  ;  but  only  those  of  some  animal, 
substituted  to  denote  the  object  of  their  worsiiip;  hence 
it  was,  that  the  various  emblematical  characters  made 
use  of  by  Cneph  in  his  nilometre  furnished  those  per- 
sons, who  out  of  regard  to  his  memory  were  fond  to 
worship  him  as  a  god  after  his  death,  with  a  variety  of 
emblematical  representations  under  which  he  might  be 
adored.  As  for  example,  that  of  a  serpent  with  a  lion's 
head,  of  a  serpent  with  a  hawk's  head,  or  that  of  a  dog. 
As  to  that  famous  emblem  of  a  dog,  under  which  this 
god  Cnuphis,  or,  as  Virgil  calls  him,''  Latrator  Anubis, 
was  worshipped,  it  is  certain,  that  the  brilliant  star^ 
which  is  known  among  astronomers  by  the  name  of  the 
Dog  Star,  and  is  one  of  the  brightest  in  the  whole  fir- 
mament, becomes  visible  in  Egypt  in  the  month  of  July, 
about  the  time  of  the  year  when,  it  is  agreed  by  all 
writers,  the  Nile  generally  begins  to  overflow  its  banks. 
This  star  is  therefore  called  by  Hesiod  ^ei^iog  'Agr^^,  i.  e. 
Sihoris  Aster,  the  star  of  the  river  Sihor  or  the  Nile; 
Sihor  being  the  name  by  which  the  river  Nile  was  known 
in  early  times,  as  appears  from  Josh,  xiii,  3,  and  Jere- 
miah ii,  18;  which  name  was  probably  given  it  on  ac- 
count of  the  dark  colour  of  its  waters  at  the  time  of  its 
inundation:  being  derived  from  the  Hebrew  verb  "^t}^ 
Shachar,  nigerfuit,  denigratus  est,  whence  also  it  was 
called  by  the  Greeks,  Mf^a$.  And  hence  Virgil,  speak- 
ing of  this  river,  says, 

Et  vu-idem  jEgyptum  nigra  foecundat  arena, 

where  Servius  in  his  notes  remarks,  nam  antea  Kilus 
Melo  dicebatur.  And  therefore  this  symbol  of  a  dog 
might  have  been  used  by  Neph  in  his  nilometre  as  a 
characteristic  mark  to  denote  the  rise  of  this  star,  which 
warned  them  to  prepare  their  grounds  for  being  fiooded 
by  the  Nile.  Whence  probably  it  obtained  the  name  of 
the  Dog  Star;  and  Neph  might  himself  in  after-nges 
be  worshipped  under  this  symbol,  and  hence  also  obtain 
the  name  of  Taautus  or  Taaut,  i.  e.  the  dog.'= 

•=  strabo,  lib.  xviii.  ^  Vir,  Mn.  lib.  viii,  ver.  698,  «  Hist,  du  del. 

VoT,.  III.  M  m 


THE 


DISSERTATION 


ON 


THE   CREATION 


AND 


FALL  OF   MAN. 


THE 

SACRED  AND  PROFANE 

HISTORY   OF    THE   WORLD 
CONNECTED, 

FROM 

THE  CREATION  OF  THE  WORLD 

TO 
i  HE  DISSOLUTION  OP  THE  ASSYRIAN  EMPIRE  AT  THE  DEATH  OP 
SARDANAPALUS,  AND  TO  THE  DECLENSION  OF  THE  KING- 
DOMS OF  JUDAH  AND  ISRAEL,  UNDER  THE  REIGNS 
OF  AHAZ   AND  PEKAH  : 

INCIUDING 

THE  DISSERTATION  ON 

THE  CREATION  AND  FALL  OF  MAN. 


BY  SAMUEL  ^HUCKFORD,  D.D. 

CHAPLAIJT  IN.  OHDINART  TO  HIS  MAJESTY,  GEORGE  THE  SECOND. 


Revised,  Corrected,  and  Greatly  Improved, 

BY  JAMES  CREIGHTON,  B.  A. 
FOUR   VOLUMES  IN  TWO. 

VOL.  IV. 


THE  FIBST  AMERICAN,  FROM  THE  FIFTH  LONDON  EDITION. 

Illustrated  with  a  New  and  Correct  Set  of  Maps  and 
Plans,  and  an  Extensive  Index. 


PHILADELPHIA : 

PUBLISHED  BY  WILLIAM  W.  WOODWARD, 

NO.  52j>  SOUTH  SECOND  STREET. 

isiZ 


INTRODUCTION 


THE  ACCOUNT 


CREATION  AND  FALL  OF  MAN. 


SECTION  I. 

The  Mosaic  Account  of  the  Creation  is  to  be  literally  un- 
derstood.— Origin  of  Mythology,  S)-c. 

THE  ensuing  Treatise  is  called  a  Supplement  to  the 
Sacred  and  Profane  History  of  the  World  Connected; 
because  the  subject  matter  of  it  ought,  and  was  intended, 
to  have  been  treated  before;  but  was  deferred,  as  1 
wished  to  see  what  others,  who  were  writing  after  me,* 
would  suggest  upon  a  subject  so  variously  thought  of  by 
divers  able  and  valuable  writers;  rather  than  too  hastily 
offer  to  the  public,  sentiments  upon  it,  of  which  I  had 
a  just  diffidence,  as  many  of  them  seemed  to  be  more 
peculiarly  my  own. 

A  supposed  impossibility  of  reconciling  a  literal  in- 
terpretation of  Moses's  account  of  the  Fall  of  Man,  with 
any  reasonable  notions  of  God,  and  with  what  must,  in 
truth,  be  his  dispensations  towards  us,""  is,  I  believe, 
what  has  introduced  the  notion  of  explaining  some  parts 
at  least  of  his  narration  into  apologue  and  fable.  The 
shadow  of  allegory  seems  to  give  us  some  appearance  of 
knowing,  what  we  do  not  plainly  understand;  and  an 
unexamined  hearsay  of  eastern  sages,  their  mythology 
and   literature,    amuses  with   a  colour  of  being  very 

*  The  writers  of  The  Universal  History  soon  after  began  to  publisli  their 
work ;  and,  after  their  account  of  the  creation,  gave  us,  as  I  hoped  they  would, 
what  they  could  collect  of  the  Fall  of  Man.     See  Preface  to  vol,  i,  p.  21. 

^  See  Aliddlc ton's  Allegorical  and  Literal  Interpretation. 

Vol.  IY.  B 


6  INTRODUCTIOX. 

learnedj  wlillst,  perhaps,  we  really  mistake  the  rise  and 
design  of  that  very  literature  to  which  we  have  recourse, 
by  endeavouring  to  resolve  into  it  the  narration  of 
Moses,  which  most  evidently  sets  before  us  particulars 
absolutely  incapable  of  admitting  any  allegorical  inter- 
pretation whatsoever. 

That  the  great  point  of  which  Moses  informs  us  is  of 
this  sort,  absolutely  incompatible  with  allegory,  is,  I 
think,  evident  beyond  contradiction.  I  hope  the  en- 
suing pages  will  clearly  show,  concerning  every  part  of 
what  he  has  related  upon  the  subject,  that,  taken  lite- 
rally as  he  has  recorded  it,  the  whole  very  pertinently 
agrees  with  the  great  design  of  all  subsequent  Scrip- 
ture; and  must  show  us,  that,  in  all  that  happened  to 
our  first  parents,  nothing  befel  them,  improper  for  their 
being  ensamples  untous;"^  and  that  the  account  we  have 
of  them,  so  far  from  being  mythic,  or  unintelligible,  is 
most  plainly  written  for  our  admonition:  that  we  may 
indeed  learn  from  it,  in  what  manner  and  measure,  from 
the  beginning,  it  was,  as  it  still  is,  the  one  thing  needful 
for  man,  truly  and  indeed  to  obey  God.  All  Scripture 
is  given  by  i7ispi?'ation  of  God  ;  cmd  is  profitable  for 
doctrine,  for  reproof  for  correction.^  for  instruction  in 
righteousness ;  that  the  tnan  of  God  may  be  perfect^ 
thoroughly  furnished  unto  all  good  ivorks.'^  If,  in  ex- 
plaining Moses's  narration  of  the  fall  literally,  we  can 
show  it  to  bear  evidently  all  these  characters  of  holy- 
writ,  as  I  trust  from  what  is  to  follow  will  be  seen,  we 
show  what  must  be  of  more  real  weight  for  a  literal 
interpretation,  than  all  that  is  otherwise  suggested 
against  it. 

But,  though  what  I  have  here  intimated,  and  have 
farther  evinced  in  the  ensuing  Treatise,  will  make  it 
evident,  that  Moses  did  not  here  write  apologue  and 
fables;  whether  what  I  am  going  to  suggest  be  certain 
fact  or  not,  yet  it  may  not  be  disagreeable  to  the  reader 
to  remark,  that  the  relating  mythologically  physical  or 
moral  truths,  concerning  the  origin  and  nature  of  things, 
was  not,  perhaps,  as  modern  writers  too  hastily  imagine, 
the  customary  practice  in  the  age  of  Moses  ;  but  rather 
began  after  his  time.     The  poet's  rule  may  be  a  very 

<=  1  Cor.  X,  11  ''2  Tim.  iii,  16,  17. 


INTRODUCTION.  7 

good  one,  to  judge  even  of  the  style  and  manner  of  au- 
thors, 

JEtatis  cujusque  notandi  sunt  tibi  mores. 

Hon, 

And  a  few  intimations  may  possibly  show  us,  that  a  due 
use  of  it  may  not  be  altogether  ineffectual  in  the  inquiry 
before  us. 

The  wisdom  of  the  east  country,  and  the  eastern 
sages,  were  in  high  esteem  in  the  days  of  Solomon  z""  but 
it  is  observed  at  the  same  time,  tliat  the  wisdom  of 
Egypt  stood  in  competition  with  it.  There  were  then 
western  sages,  as  well  as  eastern;  and  how  readily 
soever  eastern  sages  flow  from  the  pen  of  modern  wri- 
ters, as  far  as  I  can  find,  we  must  go  to  the  western  ones 
for  the  rise  of  mythologic  writing.  Mythology  began 
in  Egypt;  where  it  was  new  and  recent  in  the  times  of 
Sanchoniatho;  the  vsorarot  LE^oTMyav,  the  priests,  who 
at  that  time  were  ii>ost  modern,  had  then  invented  and 
introduced  it.^  Sanchoniatho  flourished  about  A.  M. 
2760:8^  Moses  died  A.  M.  2553:"'  in  the  interval  of 
these  two  hundred  and  seventeen  years,  we  have  reason 
to  suppose  the  rise  of  mythology. 

It  is  remarkable,  that  in  this  interval  the  correction 
of  the  year  was  made  in  Egypt,  when  Aseth  was  king 

•  1  Kings  iv,  30. 

^  ^^'hen  Sanchoniatho  made  his  inquiries,  we  are  told  that  o«  /mev  iiaira.rot 
Twv  lipof^cycuv  Tct  /Aiv  yiyovoTX  tztrgtLyfjLctT-ct  £|  "-fX^^  a.TriTrifA-^OM'ro  uXMyopim  kou 
ju.uSiic  i-wtvoiKTUVTic,  KUl  T(3<c  x,o(TfMx.iiic  'O'a.&it/^eurt  (ruyymMV  'OrKota-sL/uiivot  /uvg-tifiiu.  Ktt- 

Tig-WTAV,    KXI    iWOKVV    CtVTC^    iTTH-^CV    TupOV,    ClQ    fA»    pduflCOS  Ttytt  CVVOfM    Tat    XStT*    AXtl^iULy 

yivofjLivu..     Euseb.  Prxp.  Evang.  lib   i,  c.  9. 

s  Sanchoniatho  flourished  tt^o  ts'v  Tpamcaiv  yjc]/m,  v-'U  a-)(i^oi  toic  Mmmn^. 
Euseb.  ibid.  Troy  was  taken,  uccordiiig  to  Uslier,  A.M.  2820:  accoi-ding 
to  the  Arundle  Marble,  2796.  Agreeably  liereto,  Sanchoniatho  is  said  to  have 
conversed  with  Jerombaal,  priest  of  the  god  Jc-vo,  in  or  near  Fhcenicia :  the 
country  of  the  Jews  was  often  taken  as  part  of  Phccnicia,  The  four  letters  of 
the  word  .Jehovah  may  easdy  be  so  pointed  as  to  be  pronounced  Jelivoh. 
Gideon,  who  was  called  Jerubbaal,  Judges  vi,  32,  was  a  prophet,  a  ruler,  a 
great  deliverer  of  his  people  under  the  especial  direction  of  this  God,  whose 
name  was  Jehovah,  nnv  Judges  vi,  vii,  viii.  With  the  heatliens,  and  in  the 
most  ancient  times,  the  ruler  was  also  priest  unto  his  people ;  see  Connect, 
vol.  ii,  book  vi,  p.  81 ;  so  that  they  might  naturally  deem  Jerubbaal  a  priest 
t)f  the  God  'iswa,  Jevoh,  as  they  pronounced  it,  from  his  havng  been  appointed 
by  Jehovah  to  rule  and  goverii  his  people.  Mr.  Dodwell  indeed  wrote  a  trea- 
tise to  prove  that  Sanchoniatho  was  not  so  ancient :  but  I  cannot  apprehend 
that  his  endeavours  are  at  all  conclusive.  Take  Jerombaal  to  be  Gideon,  to 
have  ended  his  waragamst  Midian  about  A.  VI.  2760  (see  Usher's  Annals,) 
about  that  time  Sanchoniatho  might  have  access  to  him. 
*»  See  Connect,  vol.  iii,  bookxii,  p.  192. 


8  INTRODUCTION. 

there.'  Asetli,  or  Assis,  was  the  sixth  pastor  king,  the 
second  after  Apophis,  who  perished  at  the  exit  of  the 
Israelites  in  the  Red  Sea,  A.  M.  2513.''  Assis  began 
to  reign  at  the  end  of  fifty  years  after  the  death  of 
Apophis,'  i.  e.  A.  M.  2563."'  The  correction  of  the 
year  was  not  until  after  the  beginning  of  his  reign ;  in 
what  time  of  it^  we  are  not  told:  he  reigned  forty  years;" 
we  may  well  place  it  towards  his  death,"  perhaps  about 
A.  M.  2600,p  which  is  about  forty-seven  years  after  the 
death  of  Moses  ;'•  and  twenty-two  years  after  the  death 
of  Joshua. "^ 

The  fable,  which  is  handed  down  to  us,  with  the  ac- 
count of  their  correction  of  the  year,  very  significantly 
points  out  that  their  mythology  took  its  rise  from  this 
incident.  They  now  found  out  that  there  were  five 
days  in  the  year  more  than  they  had  thought  of;'  and 
they  my thologized,  that  five  gods  were  now^  born,  Osiris, 
Orus.  Typho,  Isis,  and  Nephthe.'  They  could  not 
mean  that  these  personages  now  first  began  to  be;  for 
they  had  been,  ages  before,  mighty  and  renowned 
princes  in  their  country ;  but  they  now  first  ascribed  to 
them  a  rule  and  influence  over  all  sublunary  things,  by 
supposing  each  to  be  the  governing  power  in  some  star, 
thought  to  be  animated  by  them.  The  dog-star  was  re- 
puted the  orb  of  Isis ;"  to  the  others  were  allotted,  in 
like  manner,  their  respective  spheres ;"  and  the  philo- 
sophy of  the  Egyptians,  at  this  time,  seems  to  have 
been  exerted  in  such  a  lustration  of  their  year, 

'  AiyjVTim  tQuerixiuTiv  *AnSf — rcu  Se  Ksa-^ws  (wa)  y^iT'  «toc  Trpoin^mi  -rm  evtavrav 
Titf  i  STTuyc/uiva;'  Kii  fffri  hvth,  o;  9'X<nv,  i^Hjunria-iv  r^i  it/uipuv  Ai-yvTrrictitof  ivtuuTOi, 
T^  fAovcev  TTfo  TKTif //£T/!i(^swc.  Sviicellus,  p.  123.  Accordipg-  to  Synceilus.  Aseth 
lived  about  A.  M.  -716.  According  to  Sir  John  Marsham,  we  must  place  him 
in  2665.  But  from  tlic  years  of  the  Egyptian  kings,  as  I  deduce  tlieni,  his 
times  are  from  2563  to  2603. 

^  .See  Connect,  vol.  iii,  b.  xi,  p.  158, 161. 

»  Ibid.  p.  158. 

™  The  reign  of  Janais,  the  intermediate  king  between  Apophis  and  Assis  or 
Aseth,  brings  us  to  bcgm  tlie  reign  of  Assis  at  this  year, 

»  Connect,  vol.  lii,  book  xi,  p.  158. 

o  Ibid.  vol.  ii,  b.  viii,  p.  195. 

P  Assis  died  2603.  vide  qux  sup. 

<!   Moses  died  255 o. 

r  Joshua  died  A.  M.  2578  ;  Connect,  vol.  iii,  b.  xii,  p.  257. 

«  The  Egyptian  year  was  now  first  ctmiputed  to  be  three  hundred  and  sixty- 
five  days,  being  reckoned  three  hundred  and  sixty  only  before.  Syncelhis  ubi 
sup.    Connect.  Preface  to  vol.  i,  p.  8. 

t  Connect,  vol.  ii,  b.  viii,  p.  195. 

u  Upon  the  pillar  of  Isis  was  inscribed,  'Eja  ufAi  i  iv  tm  'Ar^ai  t«  Kt/iv 
iTritthK^va.,     Diodor.  Sic.  lib.  i. 

"  Connect,  vol.  ii,  b.  viii,  p.  196. 


INTRODUCTION.  9 

iaxt'^a.^o  fij  ivtavtov 

AllATCS. 

as  to  assign  ruling  influences  of  the  stars  over  the  seve- 
ral parts  of  it;  and  to  suppose  their  ruling  stars  were 
animated  by  those  who  had  been  the  early  founders  and 
supporters  of  their  cities  and  states.  What  their  former 
theories  had  been,  shall  be  mentioned  presently.  What 
I  would  here  hint  is,  that  they  now  fell  into  a  way  of 
thinking,  which  the  Roman  poet  took  up  afterwards,  to 
make  his  court  to  Germanicus  Caesar;, 

Caesaris  arma  canant  alii,  nos  Cxsaris  aras, 
Et  quoscunque  sacris  addidit  ille  dies. 

Ovid,  Fast.  lib.  i. 

They  consecrated,  and  placed  over  their  times  and  sea- 
sons,  the  venerable  personages  of  tlieir  most  ancient 
ancestors,  w^ho  had  laid  the  early  foundations  of  all  the 
Egyptian  glory  and  prosperity  :  and  they  hoped,  that 
if  they  with  proper  rites  worshipped  gods  so  auspicious, 

telix  totus  ut  annus  eat, 

Ovid,  iibi  sup. 

that  ages  of  all  national  happiness  might  be  renewed  to 
them. 

What  had  been  the  more  ancient  Egyptian  theology, 
inquiries  of  Sanchoniatho  declare  to  us.  He  having 
examined  their  ancient  records,  and  set  aside  all  the  my- 
thology that  had  been  brought  in,  gave  us  their  true 
ancient  dogmata;''  and  what  he  has  left  us,  evinces, 
that  their  doctrines  were,  that  the  origin  of  things  hap- 
pened from  principles  of  nature  efi'ecting,  without  choice 
or  intelligence,  what  blindly  by  a  mechanical  event  of 
things  arose  from  them.^  He  talks  indeed  of  a  ro  nvcVfia, 
what  we  might  think  to  call  a  spirit;  tells  us  that  it  was 
in  love  with  its  own  principles;^  but  his  spirit  was  such 
an  one,  as  a  modern  author  exhibits  to  us :  a  spirit, 
'''  which,  clothed  with  one  set  of  material  organs,  is  only 
capable  of  exerting  its  intelligence  in  the  performance  of 

•*   'O  Js  (rvf/.Q:LXitiv  TO/c  etTto  raiv  aSuTUiv  iufii^Kriv  uircKpuipoi;  *AfAfxmna>v  yp^/u/AU.a-i 
o-uyKUjuivoic,    a,    S'lt    nx,    )iv    7ra.7i    y^cefii/Aet,  txv    /miB'/Kriv  UTrcLVTctv  avTOi  iio-xMOf    xM 

TiKK     iTTl^U^     TJI     7rpi.y[/.^Tlla.y      TCI'     K»t'      Af^':lQ    fJtud^OV,    KOU    TaC    ct^XliyCpla.^    (KTTlJ'ttV 

roin<rat.f/.ivog,  t^mu^^To  tw  Trpo^a-tv.     Euseb.  Prxp.  Evang.  lib.  i,  c.  9. 
y  Id.  ibid.  c.  10. 
'  'Hp5t5-9-«  TO  7rvuj/tAX  TKv  tftuv  oLfyuv,    Id.  ibid. 


10  -  INTRODUCTION. 

attraction  or  repulsion ;  and,  when  jarring  elements 
meet,  breaks  forth  in  thunder  and  lightning,  and  earth- 
quakes, or  any  other  mechanical  operations ;  but  may, 
when  united  to  a  different  set  of  organs  of  a  more  ex- 
fpiisite  and  delicate  contexture,  be  capable  of  exercising 
voluntary  motion,  may  be  enabled  to  tliink  and  to  reason, 
to  operate  in  love  or  hatred,  and,  when  provoked  by 
opposition,  may  be  agitated  with  anger  and  resentment, 
and  break  forth  in  quarrels,  contention,  and  war.*'''  The 
Egyptian  to  jcvEVfia,  which  generated  all  things,  was  an 
original,  like  this  author's  spirit ;  unto  which,  though 
Sanchoniatho  ascribes  operating  principles,  yet  he  ex- 
pressly tells  us,  they  were  insensate,''  and  sometimes 
caused  jarring  elements,  and  broke  forth  in  lightning 
and  thunders ;''  and  what  is  ve'ry  wonderful,  lie  also  sup- 
posed that  these  unintelligent  operating  powers  pro- 
duced some  animal  beings,  which  being  alive,  but  having 
no  thought,  procreated  other  beings  that  had  both  life 
and  intelligence.^  These  latter  productions  must  be 
surely  conceived,  like  the  spirit  of  our  modern  writer 
above  cited,  to  have  kindled  into  cogitation,  by  having 
bodies  unaccountably  formed  to  strike  out  this  flame, 
and  without  which  they  could  have  made  no  collisions 
of  a  finer  nature,  than  what  might  cause  the  voice  of 
thunder  and  the  flashes  of  lightning  to  be  heard  and 
seen  from  them.  Such  were  the  ancient  dogmata  of 
Egypt, *^  and  it  is  not  so  great  a  wonder  they  were  so, 
considering  the  low  state  of  their  rudiments  of  know- 
ledge ;  but  that  any  writer  shoidd  think  of  offering  sen- 
timents of  this  sort  in  an  age  of  philosophy,  so  clear  and 
intelligible,  as  all,  who  know  philosophy,  are  now  versed 
in,  is,  I  confess,  to  me  most  amazing. 

But  this,  as  I  have  said,  was,  before  the  age  of  Moses, 
the  wisdom  of  Egypt.     Atheistic,  sine  Deo/  supposing 

^  Essay  on  Spii-it,  24,  C5. 

^  'EyiviTo  a-vyKpao-i;  »  ttkckh  enitvii  Ikxh^h  nOQOS*  durn  Ji  dpx."  "T/sTMir  drttv- 
Twv  ctuTo  h  ix.  iyn(A,<TKi  rnv  olutou  kthtiv.  If  tlie  reader  consult  tlie  place,  be 
will  see,  that  Auto  refers  to  to  miuy-o.  preceding.  Euseb.  Prsep.  Evaog.  c.  10. 
in  pr.-cipio. 

"^  'EruS'a.Y  J'tix.f'iZru.  «.ui  t8  //;»  tots:  i'n'xotpiT^  i'lit  thy  rx  Ax«  Trvpaxnv,  ksu  TiMira 
a-vvHVTua-i  -vaKiv  h  a'w/  Totrfs  To«  Se  khi  cruvso/iat^otv,  fipovTcu  t«  dmfXt<r^ii(r:LV  ksu  d.^ftTrai. 
Kiisi'b.  'b.cl. 

"i  'Hy  Si  T/vjt  ^a>a  vx.  «;^ovTa  iua-^ii<r/v,  «|  ov  lyivfTO  ^axt  vapn.     lb   ibid. 

'  Tau-y  evfi^iifv  tw  KO!riuo-yoYuyiyfu./ujuivx  Tttavm.  Euseb.  Prsep.  Evang.  lib. 
"'» <■•  10. 

f  See  Connect,  vol.  ii,  b.  ix,  p,  231.  It  may  be  thoiigbt  surprising'  that  it 
should,  but  jihilosophy  seems  to  have  begun"  upon  these  blind  principles  in  all 


INTRODUCTION-  11 

that  the  world  had  been  made  and  governed  without  » 
God,  by  blind  and  unintelligent  principles  of  nature; 
their  worship  and  religion  was  according  to  it.  But 
Moses,  though  learned  in  all  the  wisdom  of  the  I^gyp- 
tians,^  was  also  better  instructed,  and  taught  in  oppo- 
sition to  the  Egyptian  literature,  that,  i7i  the  beginnini^y 
God  created  the  Heavens  and  the  Earth,  and  that  with- 
out him  was  not  any  thing  made  that  ivas  made:^'  and 
the  God,  whom  Moses  had  thus  declared,  had  most 
amazingly  exalted  his  power  against  all  the  gods  and  re- 
ligion of  Egypt,  by  bringing  his  people,  a  nation,  out 
of  the  midst  of,  and  from  under  their  subjection  to,  the 
Egyptians,  by  such  signs  and  ivonders,  by  such  a 
mighty  hand  and  stretched  out  arm;  by  such  amazing- 
miracles,  and  entire  overthrow  of  all  the  strength  of 
Egypt,  that  if  it  were  asked  of  the  days  that  were  past, 
since  the  day  that  God  created  man  upon  the  Earth, 
no  such  thing  as  this  great  thing  had  ever  been,  nor 
any  thing  heard  like  it.^  Egypt  was  destroyed,  greatly 
diminished  and  brought  low  ;  its  king  and  armies  over- 
whelmed and  lost  in  the  Red  Sea;""  six  hundred  thou- 
sand slaves,  besides  women  and  children,  had  left  this 
country,  the  Egyptians  not  being  able  in  the  least  to 
oppose  it;  where  now,  and  what,  were  the  gods  of 
Egypt?  Their  elementary  powers,  or  sidereal  influ- 
ences? Was  it  not  too  plain  to  be  contradicted,  that 
there  was  a  Power,  who  ruled  in  the  Heavens,  far 
mightier  than  they,  who  disposed  of  them  as  he  pleased, 
and  was  able  to  do  by  himself  whatsoever  he  pleased  to 
have  done  in  the  Earth?  Should  not  the  Egyptians, 
who  remained,  turn  and  inquire,  and  seek  after  to 
serve  this  God?  Would  not  state  policy,  which  always 
has,  and  always  will  try  to  work  its  way,  notwithstand- 
ing religion,  have  herein  prevented  tliem,  and  offered 
it  to  their  consideration,  whether,  if  they  took  this 
course,  the  Israelites  might  not  come  and  take  away 
their  place  and  nation  ?  It  seems  to  have  satisfied  them 


countries.  It  appears  to  have  been  the  old  way  of  the  first  world,  whicii 
perished  in  the  flood;  see  Job  xxji,  15,  16,  17.  And  in  later  ages,  after  the 
deluge,  the  Greeks,  copying  after  the  first  rudiments  of  Egypt,  long  pliiloso- 
nhized,  without  supposing  that  any  intelligence  had  made"  or  governed  the 
Vorld.  Anaxagoras  is  said  to  have  introduced  this  principle,  '■n-func;  th  C}.i> 
Nsv  iTi-is-iia-iv.    Laert.  in  Anaxag. 

g  Acts  vii,  22.  h  Gen.  i,  1.     See  hereafter,  ch.  i. 

'  Deut.  iv,  32—34.  t  E^od,  x,  7;  xii,  29,  30;  xiv. 


12  INTRODUCTIO^•. 

better,  to  correct  their  year,  and  reform  their  own  sy^ 
tern:  and  what  more  likely  reform  of  their  religion 
might  they  fall  into,  than  now  to  consider,  that  unques- 
tionably they  had  been  wrong  in  supposing  that  elements 
governed  the  course  of  nature,  without  a  personal  agent 
ruling  in  them.  But,  conceiving  that  the  Israelites  had 
their  God,  they  reputed  that  every  nation  had  its  own  ;' 
and  looking  back  to  their  most  early  progenitors,  who 
had  been  the  glory  of  their  times,  and  under  whom 
had  been  laid  all  the  foundation  of  their  public  and  pri- 
vate happiness;  they  supposed  them,  after  leaving  the 
Earth,  to  have  taken  their  orbs,  to  govern  and  influence 
the  things  below,  in  some  element,  star,  or  sphere 
above.  The  Greeks  thus  reputed  that  Jlstrsea,  after 
long  labouring  on  Earth  to  do  good  to  mortals,  had  at 
last  left  the  world,  to  give  her  light  from  the  constella- 
tion called  Viri^o.^^  And  we  find  it  an  ancient  apoph- 
thegm of  the  Egyptians,  tiiat  their  most  ancient  kings, 
who  had  prosperously  governed  them,  were  divine;" 
and  accordingly  they  now  canonized  these,  and  endea- 
voured to  devote  and  consign  themselves  to  their  pro- 
tection. 

That  mythology  came  in,  upon  this  alteration  of  their 
theology,  is  obviously  evident:  for  mingling  the  history 
of  these  men  when  mortals,  with  what  came  to  be  as- 
cribed to  them  when  gods,  would  naturally  occasion  it. 
And  of  this  sort  we  naturally  find  the  Mythoi  told  of 
them."  I  will  go  no  farther  at  this  time  into  this  topic; 
although  I  might  much  enlarge  upon  it,  by  considering 
how  mythology  spread  from  Egypt  into  Phoenicia,  was 
indeed  a  little  checked  by  the  inquiries  of  Sanchoniatho. 
but  soon  obtained  again  to  be  grafted  upon  his  philoso- 

See  Micah  iv,  5  ;  2  Kings  xxiii,  33,  34,  35. 

Aratus  Phocn.  ver.  ISi. 

'I'lms  the  Egyptian  heroes  departed :  tsc  it  4"/C.*^  a«^t«v  aV/::t.     Vide  Plut. 
de  Iside  ei  Osind. 

ixaxtertt  Tav  Ki)(^^)iTaiv,  oti  ■Tra.VTH  dv^oceTroi  0x3-iKtvovrsu  u-ro  ^at.   to  yup  df'X^v  h 

'ka^ui  kxi  x/JiTSv  ^iicv  sT/v       Plutaich.  n>  Alcxand. 

°  i'lic  Egyptians  having  c:ided  tlicir  heroes  by  the  names  of  their  sidereal 
and  elementary  deities,  added  to  llie  liistory  of  tlie  life  and  actions  of  sucn 
heroes  a  mytliological  account  of  tlicir  philosophical  opinions  concerning  the 
gods,  whose  names  had  also  heen  given  to  such  heroes,  &c.    See  Connect,  vol. 

ii,  hook  viii,  p.  203. 


INTRODUCTION.  13 

phy,P  infected  even  the  Israelites,  when  in  their  defec- 
tion from  their  worship  of  the  true  God,  they  took  up 
the  tabernacle  of  Moloch,  and  the  sta?^  of  the  god 
Remphan;'^  how  it  travelled  into  Greece,  where  new 
fables  were  invented,  and  added  to  the  more  ancient 
ones;  and  these  varied  in  different  ages,''  until  they 
grew  too  gross  for  philosophy  to  bear  them,  and  occa- 
sioned those  who  speculated  upon  them  to  think  many 
of  them  were  only  tales  of  poets  to  please  and  captivate 
the  minds  of  the  vulgar;  although  they  saw  in  some  a 
deeper  and  hidden  meaning,  which  they  endeavoured 

P  'Eac  srstx/v  o\  i7Tiyivoy.ivot  lipuc  y^oyoK  is-ipov  i^i\yi<!-!tv  uunv  [i.  e.  ■rpo5:i<riv 
befbregoing]  aTrox-pv-^ui,  km  hc  to  /u.vSfa>Sec  d^0Kxr!i.5-ii<ra.i.  Euseb,  Frasp. 
Evung.  lib  i,  c.  9 

t  The  Israelites'  worship  of  the  calf  at  Horeb  was  an  imitation  of  the  sacra 
of  the  Egyptians;  for  tlie  Egyptians  had  conseci'ated  animals  to  their  sidereal 
and  elementary  divinities  before  the  Israelites  left  them  But  St.  Stephen, 
Acts  vii,  43,  does  not  say  that  they  worshipped  Moloch  and  Ilemphan  in  the 
wilderness ;  but  after  the  forty  years  in  the  wilderness  were  ovei-,  at  the  expi- 
ration of  which  they  came  into  Canaan,  they  were  again  given  up  to  worship 
these  gods,  who  were  hero-gods  of  some  of  the  countries  round  about  them. 

■•  The  Uo^o;  of  Taautus,  the  blind  mechanical  principle,  so  called  by  the 
Egyptian  naturalists,  became  the  'Epoc  of  the  mythologists  ;  not  meaning,  by 
that  word,  Cupid,  the  blind  god  of  love ;  for  this  god  of  love  is  not  named,  or 
is,  if  mentioned,  called  'T/uipo;  in  Homer,  never  'Epoc  or  'E/i«c;  and  Hesiod 
also  names  him  'J/xipoc,  and  describes  him  as  belonging  to  Venus,  and  not  as 
'Eficc.     For  of  Venus,  or  Cytherea,  he  says, 

Ti)  J^  ''Epo;  ajU-upTHtTi  Kctt  'J/uipoi:  i<r7riT0  nuxoc. 

Hesiod.  Theog.  v.  201. 

Eros  himself  was  not  the  blind  and  inconstant  boy,  unto  whom  later  fables 
ascribed  a  precedency 

Res  solliclti  plena  timoris  amor 

Ovid, 

over  the  fickle  passion,  which  admits,  as  Terence  tells  us,  "  neque  consiliuni 
neque  modum,"  &c.;  but  Eros  was  in  the  beginning  from  Chaos  and  Tellus, 
like  Tli^o;  in  Sanchoniatho ;  and  is  described, 

AVS-tjUlkHi,    TTAVTOV    TS    Staif.    TTXVTCeV    T      avd'paTTCl'V 
^Ct/UVXTCtl   c'v    rn3'l7<Tt    VOOV    KUI    iTTtippiVa.    finMV. 

Hesiod.  Theog.  v.  120, 

Eros,  in  the  natural  system  called  m5'o;,  was  the  principle  that  brought  things 
into  the  harmony  of  order  out  of  cluios  or  confusion ;  and  the  person,  feigned 
by  the  fabulists  to  be  this  deity,  was  some  eminent  personage,  who  had  ex- 
celled'in  ability  to  temper  and  moderate  the  minds  of  men  :  who  had  governed 
himself,  and  greatly  taught  others  to  have  peace  in  themselves,  and  to  live  in 
peace  and  harmony  with  other  persons.  And  that  love  should  follow  after, 
wherever  such  a  person  is  acqainted  with  Venus,  the  goddess  of  all  elegance 
and  beauty,  is  no  unreasonable  supposition ;  but  whether  this  mythos  was 
more  antique  than  Hesiod,  I  am  not  certain.  I  think  we  find  nothing  like  it 
in  Homer ;  who  supposes  Venus  to  be  the  goddess,  who  subjected  luito  love 
both  mortals  and  immortals.  'T/uipoc,  whom  Hesiod  makes  a  person,  is  like 
aiKong,  in  Homer,  not  a  proper  name,  but  generally,  I  think  always,  a  common 
noun.     Homer's  Iliad,  f,  ver,  197,  &c, 

YoL,  IV.  C 


14  INTRODUCTIOA. 

to  explore  and  interpret,  as  their  traditions  furnished 
tenets  for  the  solution  of  them.  But  having  hinted  that, 
in  fact,  the  writings  of  Egypt,  in  the  age  of  Moses,  were 
only  plain  narrations,  as  they  conceived  things  to  have 
been  caused  by  operations  of  nature,  exerting  them- 
selves without  any  intelligent  being  creating  and  direct- 
ing them ;  and  that  Moses,  contrary  hereto,  set  forth  as 
plaiidy,  that  there  was  a  God,  who  created  all  things  ; 
that,  in  opposition  hereto,  the  heathen  nations,  not  ac- 
knowledging the  one  God,  and  yet  compelled  to  think, 
that  agencies  without  intelligence  could  not  be  the 
powers  that  ruled  the  world,  set  up  many  gods;  and 
those  such  gods,  that  fable  and  mythology  naturally 
arose  from  the  institution  of  them;  and  consequently 
had  not  their  rise  until  the  system  of  Moses  was  thus 
opposed,  nor  until  after  his  days.  Although  I  cannot 
herein  pretend  to  any  certainty  of  demonstration;  yet, 
1  think,  I  may  venture  to  say,  that  nothing,  so  probable 
as  what  I  have  offered,  can  be  collected  from  any  re- 
mains of  antiquity,  to  contradict  it. 


SECTION  II. 


Drs.  Burnet  and  Middleton^s  Objections  against  the  Lite- 
ral Interpretation  of  the  Mosaic  Jlccount  of  the  Cred- 
tion,  considered.  How  the  History  of  Creation  might 
he  easily  handed  down  from  Adam  to  Moses. 

The  objections,  to  which  I  have  replied  in  the  ensu 
ing  treatise,  are  taken  chiefly  from  Dr.  Burnet,  some- 
time master  of  the  Charter- house,  who  appears  to  have 
given  us  the  substance  of  what  can  be  offered  against  the 
literal  interpretation.  Other  writers  only  copy  after 
him ;  and  Dr.  Middleton,  I  think,  does  not  improve 
any  point  he  took  from  him.  One,  indeed,  he  states 
in  a  manner  something  different  from  Dr.  Burnet, 
which  I  will  here  consider  as  Dr.  Middleton  repre- 
sents it. 

Dr.  Middleton  suggests,  that  it  is  not  possible  for  any 
mortal,  "  to  give  an  historical  narration,  to  describe  the 
particular  manner,  order,  and  time,  in  which,  or  the  ma- 
terials out  of  which,  this  world,  and  its  principal  inha- 
bitant, man,  were  formed  :  that  were  any  writer  to  pre- 
tend to  it,  we  should  apply  to  him  what  was  said  by 
God  to  Job,  Where  wast  thou,  ivlien  I  laid  the  foun- 
dations of  the  Earth  ?  declare,  if  thou  hast  under- 
standing.^ And  we  should  think  the  same  of  him, 
which  Job  confesseth  of  himself;  that  he  had  uttered 
what  he  understood  not ;  things  too  ivonderful  for  him, 
which  he  knew  not.^  We  should  conclude,  at  once, 
that  the  whole,  which  the  wisest  of  men  could  write 
upon  the  subject,  must  be  the  mere  effect  of  fancy  and 
imagination." — "  From  the  nature  of  the  story  itself. 

*  Job  xxxviii,  4,  '  Chap,  xlii^  3. 


16  INTRODUCTION. 

we  should  readily  conclude,  tliat  no  writer  whatsoever 
could  be  so  sufliciently  informed,  as  to  be  able  to  give 
an  historical  narration  of  it;  or  could  iiave  authority- 
enough  to  make  it  pass  for  such  with  any  judicious 
reader.*"''  Dr.  Middleton  introduces  the  suggestion, 
not  pretending  directly  to  say,  that  Moses  eould  not 
possibly,  supposing  him  an  inspired  writer,  give  an 
authentic  account  of  the  facts  related  by  him  ;  but  de- 
siring to  have  the  reader  weigh  and  consider,  what  he 
vvould  reasonably  think  of  such  facts,  so  related,  if  the 
relator  was  thought  not  to  have  a  warrant  of  a  real  re- 
velation from  God,  of  the  matters  declared  by  him." 
What  argument  can  be  drawn  from  what  he  thus  ofTers, 
seems  to  me  to  be  very  obscure.  The  apostle  tells  us, 
tliat  through  faith  ive  understand  that  the  worlds  were 
framed  by  the  word  of  God  f  where  he  evidently  refers 
to  the  Mosaic  history.  That  the  worlds  were  not  eter- 
nal, but  were  made  by  the  power  of  God,  may  be  de- 
monstrated from  the  reason  and  nature  of  things ;  but 
that  God  spake  the  word,  and  they  ivere  made  ;  com- 
mandcd,  and  they  were  created  f  that  they  were  not 
made,  without  the  word  spoken  by  him ;  not  made  by 
the  immediate  purpose  of  liis  will ;  but  that  he  said,  let 
them  be,  and  they  were  so  :^  as  also  that  things  did  not 
instantly,  all  at  once,  take  their  being,  as  lie  might  de- 
sign them,  but,  in  six  days,  were  in  their  several  orders 
framed  and  fashioned,  day  by  day  ;  such  in  every  day, 
as  he  was  pleased  to  appoint,  ivhen,  before,  there  ivcre 
none  of  them  ;  this  we  may  have  no  reason  to  believe,^ 


•'  See  Middleton's  Examlnat.  p,  128;  Burnet's  Archseol  p.  284. 

<=  Let  us  take  a  review  of  the  story,  as  if  it  had  been  told  us  by  Sanchoniatl^o. 
^Jiddleton's  Examinat.  p,  128, 

''  Heb.  xi,  3. 

*  Psal.  cxlviii,  5  ;  see  xxxiii,  fi,  9. 
^  Gen.  i,  3,  6,  11,  14,  20,  24,  &c. 

8  Nothing  would  give  us  so  clear  a  view  of  the  apostle's  reasonino-  in  the 
eleventh  chapter  to  the  Hebrews,  as  tlje  carefully  obser^'ing  his  distinction  and 
definition  of  tlie  word  faith  :  faith,  he  tell  us,  ver.  1,  is  the  snbstunce  of  things 
hopeil  for,  the  evidence  of  things  not  seen.  The  word  we  translate  substance  is 
iT5r:t5-/c ;  how  we  came  here  to  render  it  substance  is  not  eas)'  to  say :  as  de- 
rived from  J.To  and  W>i,ui,  it  m.ay  signify  wiuit  the  logicians  define  substance, 
res  subsistcim  et  substavs  iiccidentibvs  ;  but  faith,  an  act  of  the  mind,  is  no  such 
substance  Ihere  is  a  passage  in  the  New  'IVstamcnt,  which  may  lead  us" to 
render  this  phice  more  pertinently.  St.  Paul  tells  us,  2  Cor.  ix,  4,  of  tl\e 
iri^ua-t;  of  his  boastiiiff — where  we  render  the  word,  the  confidence.  Tlie  apos^ 
tie,  assuredly  believed  that  his  boasting  was  not  groundless  :  and  this  assured 
belief  he  called  u^ros-aa-K.  In  tills  we  iiave  a  clear  meaning;  faith  is  this  assu- 
rance, an  imdoubting  persuasion  of  the  things  iioped  for.  Tlie  apostle  adds, 
that  it  is  the  evidence,  ks>;<;'f>  ^^'^^^  proves  to  us  things  not  seen.     We  are  apt 


INTRODUCTION.  17 

l)Ut  upon  the  authority  of  Moses's  history.  But  shall 
we  now  ask  the  question?  What  if  we  set  aside  all 
consideration  of  the  authority  of  Moses,  and  suppose 
what  is  written  by  him,  as  if  written  by  Sanchoniatho, 
or  any  other  ancient  sage,  who  wrote  uninspired,  what 
he  apprehended  to  be  true,  agreeably  to  his  own  senti- 
ments of  things?  I  answer:  it  will  iniquestionably  fol- 
low^, such  sage  not  being  infallible,  if  there  be  many  as 
possible  ways,  in  which  the  thing  related  by  him,  might 
have  been  done,  besides  the  particular  one  he  has 
adopted,  we  may  have  no  reason  to  believe  the  parti- 
culars declared  by  him,  exclusive  of  all  others.  But  I 
see  no  point  hence  gained  towards  infidelity;  because 
the  authority  of  the  inspired  writer,  not  being  de- 
stroyed, but  only,  for  argument  sake,  put  aside  out  of 
the  question ;  the  foundation  of  God  remaineth  still 
sure;  the  authority  of  the  inspired  writer,  whenever 
we  look  back  to  it,  brings  its  force  along  with  it,  to  as- 
sure us,  that  what  is  declared  by  such  writer  must  be 
true,  and  ought  to  be  believed  by  us.  Our  disput.iut, 
therefore,  seems  to  me  contriving  rather  how  to  beguile 
us,  than  substantially  to  confute  us.  To  be  desired, 
for  argument  sake,  to  lay  aside  the  authority  of  sacred 
w^rit,  to  examine  how  far  the  truth  of  what  is  declared 
is  such,  that  by  reason  alone,  without  other  authority, 
we  may  prove  it,  is  a  specious  proposal ;  but  if.  upon 
such  examination,  we  find  of  the  matter  inquired  after, 
that,  had  it  not  been  authentically  related  to  have  been 

to  be  very  indistinct  in  our  notions  of  faith.  In  common  speech  we  ofren  take 
faith  and  knowledge  "the  one  for  the  other ;  the  believing  a  thing-  upon  good 
testimony,  and  the  knowing  it,  are,  in  a  general  acceptation,  reputed  one  and 
the  same  thing.  IJut  the  Scriptures  show  us  a  real  difference  between  f>ith 
and  knowledge;  which  are  not  the  same  attainments;  tor  we  are  exhoned  to 
add  the  one  to  the  other:  add,  says  St.  Peter,  to  ijour faith,  knowledge ;  2  Pet, 
i,  5,  Faith  is  the  believing  things  not  seen,  not  known  to  ourselves,  but  de- 
clared to  us,  and  believed  upon  testimony,  that  they  are  true.  We  are  capa- 
ble of  information,  without  the  testimony  of  others,  two  ways ;  by  our  senses, 
and  by  our  understanding.  I'hings  eternal  strike  our  senses,  and  we  imme- 
diately know  what  impressions  we  receive  of  them;  and  we  have  an  ability  of 
mind  to  see  and  compare  our  thoughts  of  things,  and  to  form  a  judgment  \\  hat 
to  conchide  of  them.  In  this  sense,  divers  things,  which,  literally  rpcaking, 
are  divisible,  may,  in  the  language  of  St  Paul,  be  said  to  be  dearly  seen,  being 
understood :  Rom.  i,  20.  We  have  a  knowledge,  an  intuition  of  them  in  our 
mind,  from  our  clear  reasonings  upon  theui,  without  information  from  another: 
but  faith  is  not  of  this  sort;  faith  cometh  by  hearing,  Wum.  x,  17  :  it  is  the  be- 
lief of  what  we  do  not  know,  of  ourselves,  but  are  assured  is  known  by  some 
other,  and  declared  to  us.  Now  if  we  would  accurately  distinguish  between 
belief  in  general,  and  that  fuiUi  which  is  our  religious  concern;  in  the  one  we 
believe  tilings,  which  are  testified  to  be  known  by  men  to  be  true ;  in  the  other 
WK  believe  things,  that  are  well  testified  to  have  been  declared  from  Gor. 


18  INTRODUCTION. 

done  in  a  particular  manner,  many  other  ways  might  be 
conceived,  in  which  it  might  as  reasonably  have  been 
effected ;  if  we  will  not  here  re-assume  the  authority  of 
the  relation  made  to  us,  to  give  it  its  just  weight  to  de- 
termine our  belief,  we  cannot  be  said  to  be  reasoned  out 
of  our  faith :  for  we  inconsiderately  give  it  up,  without 
any  reason  for  our  so  doing. 

For  man  to  tell  how  human  life  beg-an 

Is  hard ;  for  who  himself  beginning'  knew  ? 

]Mii,TO»'s  Par.  Lost,  b,  viii. 

For  mail  to  pretend  farther  to  speak  of  his  own  actual 
knowledge  of  things  done  and  past,  before  he  had  any 
being,  is,  in  the  nature  of  the  thing,  impossible.  But 
that  Adam,  during  the  space  of  a  life  of  above  nine  hun- 
dred years,"'  should  recollect  all  that  he  had  experienced 
from  the  time  when  he  had  a  knowledge  of  his  being ; 
should  conceive  that  he  had  revelations  from  the  voice 
of  God,  of  all  that  God  thought  fit  to  make  known  unto 
men  ;  of  his  creation  of  the  Heavens  and  the  Earth,  and 
of  all  the  host  and  creatures  of  them  ;  that  Adam  should 
frequently  inculcate  to  his  children  all  he  thus  knew; 
that  authentic  narrations  of  these  things  should  have 
come  down  from  before  the  flood  to  the  posterities  that 
were  afterwards ;'  and  that  when  Moses  wrote  his  his- 
tory, there  should  have  been  no  such  obsolete  remains, 
as  we  now  may  be  apt  to  think  them  ;  are  things  in  them- 
selves not  at  all  improbable. 

From  Adam  unto  Abraham,  considering  the  then  du- 
ration of  man's  life,  is,  comparatively  speaking,  no 
greater  length  for  even  tradition,  than  from  our  father's 
grandfather  unto  us.  Abraham  lived  to  A.  M.  2183,'^ 
to  see  Jacob,  the  father  of  Joseph,  about  fifteen  years 
old  ;'  Jacob  had,  from  his  youth  up,  been  a  diligent  in- 
quirer into,  and  observer  of  the  hopes,"'  and  fear  of  his 
fathers,"  and  had,  himself,  many  revelations  from  God." 
He  came  down  unto  Joseph,  and  lived  with  him  in 
Egypt  seventeen  years  before  he  died.''     He  lived  full 

'■  Adam  lived  nine  hundred  and  thirty  years,  Gen.  v,  5. 

»  Tiiere  might  have  been  among  the  f.iithful,  before  the  flood,  more  express 
revelations  than  have  come  down  to  our  times.  Bishop  of  London's  Dissert. 
If.  p.  237 ;  see  Jude,  ver.  14 ;  see  Connect,  vol.  i,  b.  i,  p.  5 1. 

k  Ibid;  vol.  ii,  b.  vi,  p,  66. 

'   .lacob  was  born  A.M.  2168;  see  Connect,  vol.  ii,  b.  vii,  p.  109. 

>n  Ibid.  °  Cien.  xxxi,  53. 

"  Sec  Gen.  x.\viiJ,  xxxii,  xxxv,  &,c.  r  Gon.  xlvii,  28, 


INTRODUCTION,  19 

of  the  hope  of  the  promises,  and  died  in  the  belief  of 
them,'*  and  left  Joseph  as  fully  embracing  them,  and 
persuaded  of  them,  and  testifying  them  unto  his  bre- 
thren, when  he  also  died/  Joseph  lived  to  see  his  son 
Ephraim's  children  of  the  third  generation  ;"  Moses  was 
not  lower  than  in  the  third  generation  from  Levi  ;*  and 
the  father  of  Moses  must  have  been  well  known  per- 
sonally to  Joseph.  Put  these  things  together,  and  we 
may  reasonably  admit  all  that  had  been  believed  from 
the  beginning  in  this  family,  might  have  come  down  unto 
Moses  so  authentically  testified,  that  all  he  wrote,  from 
the  creation  to  his  own  times,  might  unquestionably  be 
received  by  his  brethren  and  fathers  as  well  warranted 
to  be  true.  And,  agreeably  hereto,  we  find,  that  not- 
withstanding all  the  opposition  he  had  from  his  Israel- 
ites, enough  surely,  during  the  whole  forty  years  he  had 
the  charge  of  them,"  to  make  it  plain,  that  they  were 
not  a  people  disposed  implicitly  to  believe  him  ;  but  ra- 
ther, wherever  they  could  find  the  least  pretence  for  it, 
most  zealously  asserting  a  liberty  to  gainsay  and  contra- 
dict him ;  notwithstanding,  in  all  he  had  related  to  them 
from  the  creation  to  his  becoming  their  leader,  we  have 
not  one  hint,  that  they  disbelieved  it,  even  in  any  par- 
ticular at  all. 


He  prophesied  of  them  to  his  sons  very  largely ;  Gen,  xlviii,  xlix,  29. 
Gen.  1,  24,  =  Ver.  23.  '  1  Chron,  vi,  1—3. 

See  Connect,  vol.  iii,  b.  xii,  p.  202. 


SECTION   III. 


Of  the  Promhe  of  the  Seed  of  the  TVo7nan;  with  a  Hefu- 
tation  of  Dr.    Middleton^s    Observations   against    the 
■  Evangelical  viccount  of  the  Genealogy  of  our  Blessed 
Lord. 

But,  if  I  should  rest  this  matter  here,  and  suppose, 
that  Moses's  history  of  the  Creation  and  Fall  had  no 
greater  authority,  than  what  can  be  given  from  its  being 
reasonable  to  believe  he  might  write  it  merely  from  the 
records  of  his  fathers,  I  should  most  egregiously  trifle. 
Let  the  conduct  of  Moses,  what  he  said,  what  he  wrote, 
and  what  he  did,  be  only  considerately  examined;  and 
it  will  appear  beyond  a  possibility  of  contradiction^,  that 
God  himself  was,  in  many  things,  his  infallible  director.' 
And  if  Gou  was  his  director  in  other  parts  of  his  wri- 
tings, what  reason  can  we  have  to  think  he  was  not  so 
from  the  beginning?  In  the  history  of  the  Fall,  Moses 
writes  so  emphatically,  that  one  person  should  be  de- 
scended from  the  woman  to  be  the  capital  subduer  of 
the  great  enemy  of  mankind;  he  limited  this  person  to 
be  of  the  seed  of  Abraham,**  of  Isaac,'  and  of  the  tribe 
of  Judah/  Surely  flesh  and  blood  q,o\\\(\.  not  have  as- 
sured him,  fifteen  hundred  years  beforehand,  that  tlius 
it  should  be ;'  yet  the  things  whicli  he  thus  foretold  were 
accomplished  in  a  miraculous  manner,  when  the  fulness 
of  their  time  was  eome  ;  and  thus  tlie  prediction,  and 
the  fulfilling  it,  .bear  an  undeniable  testimony  to  each 
other.  Nothing  but  tlie  immediate  power  of  God  could 
have  brought  to  pass  the  things  foretold^,  in  the  manner 

'  See  Connect,  vol.  iii,  b.  xii,  p.  194,  &c. 

''  See  Connect,  vol.  iii,  b.  xit. ;  see  also  den.  xxii,  18. 

'  Gen.  xxi.  12.  '  Chap,  xlix,  10.  '  Matth.  xvi,  17 


INTRODUCTION.  21 

ih  which  they  were  accomplished ;  so  that  the  particular 
accomplishment  of  them  could  be  none  other  than  the 
work  of  God.  And  as  no  one  could  foresee  what  God 
would  thus  do,  but  the  Spirit  o/God;*"  so  no  man  be- 
forehand could  say  of  these  things,  that  they  should  so 
be,  unless  it  had  been  revealed  from  God. 

Contrary  to  wliat  the  Scriptures  inform  us,  and  which 
I  have  had  occasion  to  mention,  that  our  Saviour  was  a 
descendant  from  David,  Dr.  Middleton  would  seem  to 
argue,  that  he  was  not  really  of  the  tribe  of  Judah  ;  but 
rather  of  the  tribe  of  Levi.  I  need  not  go  through  a 
long  detail  of  what  he  offers,  the  whole  of  which  may 
be  comprised  in  a  few  particulars.  1.  He  observes,  . 
that  Joseph,  the  husband  of  Mary  the  mother  of  Jesus, 
was  only  the  reputed  father  of  our  Saviour ;  he  says  our 
Saviour  had  really  no  share  or  participation  of  his 
blood. ^  And  yet,  2.  That  the  Evangelists,  whenever 
they  deduce  his  pedigree,  show  tliat  he  was  the  son  of 
David,  by  a  line  up  from  Joseph  only.''  3.  That  they 
never  say,  that  Mary  the  mother  of  Jesus,  through  whom 
alone  his  real  genealogy  could  come  from  David,  was 
descended  of  David.'  4.  That  their  silence  herein  seems 
to  make  it  probable,  that  Mary  was  not  of  such  descent. 
5.  That  Mary  is  observed  to  be  the  cousin  of  Elizabeth,^'^ 
and  that  Elizabeth  being  of  the  daughters  of  Aaron,' 
Mary,  her  cousin,  was  most  probably  of  the  same  tribe, 
namely,  of  the  tribe  of  Levi,  and  not  of  the  tribe  of 
Judah. "^ 

The  answer  to  this  is,  1.  The  Evangelists  are  parti- 
cularly careful  to  observe,  that  Jesus  was  not  descended 
from  Joseph  his  reputed  fatber."  2.  Their  deducing 
Joseph's  pedigree  from  David,  was  merely  to  remove 
the  prejudices  of  the  Jews  ;  for  they  at  first  would  look 
no  farther  than  to  consider  Jesus  as  the  carpenter's  son," 
and  were  scandalized  at  the  meanness  of  his  birth  ;i' 
thought  him  a  fellow  of  so  low  an  extraction,  that  there 
was  no  saying  whence  he  was.*!  Contrary  to  these,  their 
prevailing  sentiments,  the  Evangelists,  at  the  same  time 

i  1  Cor.  ii,  11. 

g  Remarks  on  the  Variations  in  the  Evangelists,  p.  29. 

'»  Ibid.  i  Ibid.  p.  30. 

fe  Luke  i,  36.  i  \  er.  5. 

™  It  needs  not  be  remarked,  that  David  was  of  the  tribe  of  Jad:iii. 

>'  See  Matth.  i,  18—25;  Luke  i,  35  ;  iii,  23- 

"  Matth.  xiii,  55.  i>  Ibid.  •)  John  ix,  29. 

Vol.  IV.  D 


258  INtliODUCTIOX. 

not  concealing  or  disguising  the  truth,  that  Jesus  really 
was  of  God  ^"^  that  Joseph  was  only  his  supposed  father: 
nevertheless  took  care  to  show,  that  were  his  genealogj'^, 
as  they  imagined,  to  be  reckoned  by  or  through  Joseph, 
even  thus,  also,  he  would  have  been  the  son  of  David. 
This  would  have  been  the  case,  either  of  the  two  ways 
in  which  the  Jews  counted  their  pedigrees ;  in  one  of 
which  they  reckoned  the  son  to  belong  to  the  parent 
who  begat  him;  in  the  other,  where  a  man  died  without 
issue,^  and  his  brother,  or  next  of  kin,  married  the 
widow,  and  raised  up  seed  to  the  deceased,  the  seed 
raised  up  was  counted  not  to  the  real  father  who  begat 
him,  but  to  the  deceased,  who  died  without  issue.*  This 
is  allowed  to  have  occasioned  the  difference  between  St. 
Matthew's  and  St.  Luke's  genealogies ;"  both  which 
considered,  were  evidence  to  the  Jews,  that  although 
they  were  obstinate  and  would  reckon  our  Saviour's  de- 
scent through  Joseph ;  yet  even  here,  count  which  way 
they  would,  the  genealogy  would  come  up  to  David. 
But,  3.  Why  was  not  the  descent  of  Mary,  of  whom 
alone  our  Saviour's  genealogy  could  truly  come  from 
David,  as  expressly  said  to  be  from  that  patriarch,  as 
Joseph's?  I  answer,  it  was.  St.  Luke  tells  us,  in  re- 
cording the  angel's  salutation  of  Mary,  that  the  son  to 
be  born  of  her  should  have  the  throne  of  his  father 
David  ;  so  that  he  recognizes  David  to  be  the  progenitor 
of  Jesus.  He  immediately  after  allows,  that  this  child 
was  to  be  born  of  Mary  without  her  knowing  man:''  if, 
then,  he  had  not  before  hinted  of  the  child  thus  to  be 
born,  that  by  his  mother  he  was  a  descendant  of  David, 
his  narration  would  evidently  be  a  contradiction  to  itself, 
But  the  Evangelist  had  sufficiently  guarded  against  this, 
in  plainly  telling  us,  before  he  begins  the  salutation, 
that  the  angel  Gabriel  ivas  sent  to  a  virgin  of  the  house 
of  DavidJ  The  words,  espoused  to  a  man,  whose 
name  tvas  Joseph,  inserted  between  inrgin — and  of  the^ 
house  of  David/'  maybe  a  parenthesis,  indicating,  that 
of  the  house  of  JJavid  shou\<l  not  be  attributed  to  Joseph, 
For,  as  I  have  observed,  the  sense  and  argument  of  the 


r  A'idc  qurc  sup.  »  Deut.  xxv,  5.  '  Chap,  xxv,  6. 

"  Matth.  i;  Luke  iii.  "  Luke  i,  32,  35.  y  Chap,  i,  27. 

^  The  words  of  tlie  text  are,  'wpof  'tg^apSivov,  /uijung^vfAamv  dvcJ't  d>  oyc/ux  'lao-/!^, 
"x  oiiiti  M0i<f.  An  obstinate  critic  may  light  this  battle,  but  1  apprehend  that 
\^  oiyjn  £l:t&ti  belongs  tO  TUp^fVsv. 


INTRODUCTION.  23 

whole  context  must  lead  us  to  thiuk  otherwise ;  as,  iu- 
tleed,  does  the  manner  of  the  expression  likewise.  For, 
as  the  genealogies  of  the  Jews  were  deduced  in  the  male 
line,  it  is  most  reasonable  to  think,  that  if  the  Evan- 
gelist had  here  intended  what  he  said  to  be  understood 
of  Joseph,  his  expression  would  have  been,  as  he  else- 
where says  of  him,  of  the  house  and  lineage  of  David;'' 
but  women,  though  not  said  to  be  of  the  lineage,  being 
with  propriety  recorded  to  be  of  the  house  of  thei?' 
fathers,^  the  expression  concurs  with  the  reason  of  the 
narration,  that  the  Evangelist  herein  spake  of  Mary 
only.  But,  4.  Why  was  not  this  point  more  frequently, 
more  clearly,  more  largely,  insisted  upon?  I  answer; 
because  it  was  a  point  doubted  by  none,  but  allowed  by 
all.  It  was,  St.  Paul  tells  us,  7ipo8y]?iOv,  manifest,  with- 
out controversy,  that  ow  Lord  sprang  of  the  tribe  of 
Judah;^  how  sprang  of  that  tribe?  by  his  father  Joseph? 
This  the  apostles  denied;  it  must  then  be  thus  undis- 
puted by  the  descent  of  Mary  only.  For,  5.  As  to  wiiat 
is  said  of  Elizabeth  being  cousin  to  Mary,  and  therefore 
Elizabeth  being  of  the  tribe  of  Levi,^  that  Mary  was 
also  of  that  tribe — ;  this  way  of  arguing — for  any  on^ 
of  letters  to  make  use  of  it,  is  most  indefensible  trifling. 
It  can  have  weight  only  with  a  mere  English  reader,  who 
possibly  may  be  deceived  by  the  common  acceptation  of 
our  English  word  cousin.  The  word  used  by  the  Y.v^\\- 
gelist  is  (TDyyej^)?;  ;^  St.  Paul  uses  the  same,  where  he 
tells  us  of  his  great  heaviness  and  contitiual  sorrow  of 
heart  for  his  brethren,  his  kins7nen  accordin<j'  to  the 
flesh,  his  avyysvidv  ;«aTa  aagxa.^  Who  they  were,  that 
stood  in  this  relation  to  him,  he  informs  us  very  clearly. 
They  were  not  only  those  of  the  tribe  of  Benjamin,  his 
own  tribe  ;^  but  they  were  all  the  Israelites,''  all  to  luhom 
pertained  the  adoption,  the  glory,  and  the  covenants, 
and  the  giving  of  the  law  ;  the  promises,  unto  luhich 
all  their  twelve  tribes  hoped  to  come.'  It  is  most  evident 
then,  that  the  relation  specified  between  Mary  and 
Elizabeth,  in  the  word  cousin,  or  avyyev/ic,,  did  not  at 
all  mean,  that  they  were  both  of  the  same  tribe;  but  that 

a  Luke  ii,  4.  •  b  psal.  xlv,  10 ;  Gen.  xxiv,  10.  et  in  al.  loc 

<=  Heb  vii,  14.  A  Luke  i,  5. 

*  Ver.  36.      'E\ta-u0ir  »  auyytvuc  av. 
*Rom.  ix,  3.  B  Chap,  xi,  1. 

*  Chap,  ix,  4.  ^  Acts  xxvi,  7. 


24  INTRODUCTION. 

they  were  children  of  the  same  people;  both  of  them 
Israelites,  of  one  and  the  same  stock,  namely,  of  the 
stock  of  Mraham.^  The  reader  may  easily  perceive, 
that  in  this  argument  Dr.  Middleton  descended  below 
every  notion  we  can  have  of  a  man  of  learning,  to  in- 
vent an  expedient  to  puzzle  (to  such  readers  as  might 
not  be  able  to  consider  the  texts  cited  by  him,  in  their 
original  language)  the  most  clear  and  allowed  truths 
concerning  our  Saviour,  of  which  he  must  have  known 
no  real  argument  could  be  formed  to  contradict  them. 
And  to  this  he  descended  (what  induced  him  I  will  not 
take  upon  me  to  determine)  at  a  season  of  life,  when 
he  stood  upon  the  very  threshhold  of  immortality. 

k  Acts  xiii,  26. 


SECTION    IV. 


The  Necessity  and  Certainty  of  a  Divine  Revelation  ;  and 
the  Impossibility  of  discovering  the  Things  mentioned 
in  the  Sacred  Writings,  by  any  Efforts  of  Human  Rea- 
son.— Of  the  various  Readings  of  the  Old  and  New  Tes- 
taments ;  and  the  Integrity  of  Divine  Revelation. 

The  principles,  which  I  have  made  the  foundation  of 
the  following  treatise,  are,  that  human  reason  was  not 
originally  a  sufficient  guide  for  man,  without  some  ex- 
press revelation  from  God;  and  that  positive  precepts 
given  by  God,  however  we  may  be  apt  to  conclude  of 
them,  from  their  not  appearing  intrinsically  of  real 
moment  to  the  rectitude  of  our  lives,  are  not  there- 
fore unreasonable  and  vain.  The  professed  opposers 
of  revelation  must  be  herein  unanimously  against  me; 
and  some  valuable  writers,  not  apprehending  a  ne- 
cessity, though  allowing  the  expediency  of  a  revela- 
tion, do  not  entirely  think  with  me  in  these  particu- 
lars. The  reader  will  find  their  way  of  reasoning 
considered  in  the  following  pages.''  All  I  would  here 
oifer  is,  that  if  authority  was  of  moment,  I  might  cite 
even  Dr.  Middleton  for  me  in  these  points;  for  it  is 
obvious,  that  he  knew  there  might  be  found  ^*  the  tes- 
timony of  all  ages;  the  experience  of  all  the  great  rea- 
soners  of  the  heathen  world,  that  reason  (human  reason 
alone)  had  not  light  enough  to  guide  mankind  in  a  course 
of  virtue  and  morality,"  that  there  was  <'  such  an  uni- 
versal conviction  and  experience,"  he  says,  "of  the  in- 
sufficiency of  reason,  as  seemed  to  be  the  voice  of  nature 

'  See  cliap.  v. 


36  INTRODUCTION. 

disclaiming  it,  as  a  guide,  in  the  case  of  religion."''  In 
like  manner,  treating  of  positive  precepts,  he  deduces 
fin  argument  from  what  may  be  observed  of  God's 
works;  that  ^' the  wise  of  all  ages  have,  from  the  ex- 
cellency of  God's  works,  collected  the  excellency  of  his 
nature.  Yet  in  those  works  all  still  agree,  that  there 
are  some  particulars,  not  only  whose  nature,  but  whose 
use  or  reason  of  existence  cannot  be  discovered  by  the 
most  curious  searchers  into  nature;  nay,  some  things, 
which,  considered  separately,  appear  even  noxious  to 
the  rest;  all  which,  though  not  understood,  are  yet  rea- 
sonably presumed  to  be  good  and  perfect  in  their  several 
kinds,  and  subservient  to  the  general  beauty  and  excel- 
lency of  the  whole  system.'"'  He  proceeds:  ^"^ 'Tis 
full  as  unreasonable  to  charge  all  positive  precepts,  sup- 
posed to  come  from  God,  whose  use  and  relation  to  mo- 
rality we  cannot  comprehend,  to  fraud  and  imposture; 
as,  in  the  visible  works  of  God,  to  impute  every  thing 
we  do  not  understand,  or  even  ev^ery  thing  that  seems 
hurtful,  to  the  contrivance  of  some  malicious  power  op- 
posite to  the  divine  nature — .  As,  on  the  one  hand, 
we  do  not  exclude  from  the  catalogue  of  God's  works, 
all  those  particulars,  in  which  we  cannot  trace  the  marks 
of  divine  wisdom :  so,  on  the  other,  wo  cannot  exclude 
from  the  body  of  his  laws,  those  few  injunctions,  which 
seem  not  to  have  impressed  on  them  the  legible  charac- 
ters of  morality."'' 

In  examining  the  text  of  Moses,  I  have  proposed  to 
the  learned  reader's  disquisition,  whether  in  the  19th 
and  20th  verses  of  the  second  chapter  of  Genesis,  two 
words,  ncpesh  chajali,  have  not  been,  by  the  mistake  of 
transcribers,  removed  in  the  text  from  one  line  into  ano- 
ther.*" The  mistake  is  so  easy  to  be  made,  and  the  true 
and  clear  meaning  of  the  place  rendered  so  indisputable, 
by  allowing  such  transposition,  that,  I  apprehend,  what 
I  have  suggested,  may,  perhaps,  carry  its  own  vindica- 
tion. If  1  had  the  opportunity,  of  wliich  a  learned  au- 
thor is  making  a  very  commendable  use,'"  to  search  such 
manuscript  copies  as  we  have  of  the  Hebrew  Bible,  I 
should  very  carefully  have  examined  whether  any  can 
be  found,  which  may  justify  my  supposition.     I  could 

1'  Letter  to  Dr.  Waterland,  edit.  8,  p.  49,  50.  "  Ibid.  p.  61. 

''  Ibid.  p.  62.  '  See  hereul"ter  chap.  iii. 

'  See  Keiinicott's  State  of  the  printed  Hebl•e\^•  text  of  the  Old  Testament. 


INTRODUCTION.  27 

name  other  texts,  into  which  I  would  make  a  like  in- 
quiry:  I  will  mention  two:  one  is  the  latter  part  of  the 
24th  verse  of  the  forty-ninth  chapter  of  Genesis.  The 
inquiry  should  be,  whether  the  words  now  printed 
Sn")C^*  p5<  ni^"l  DtJ^O?  ai'e  not  in  any  manuscript 
written  Sn")^'^  pN*  11^*1  DJ^O?  The  supposed  dif- 
ference is  in  one  letter  only;  whether  the  first  letter  in 
the  first  word  be  a  mem  or  a  beth;  a  difference  so  small, 
that  a  reader,  not  very  attentive,  may  not  see  it;  the 
least  dash  of  the  pen,  added  or  omitted  (the  letters  are 
so  similar,)  may  make  it  the  one  or  the  other,*  The 
other  text  is,  Psal.  cv,  28  ;  He  sent  darkness  and  made 
it  dark:  in  our  Bibles  the  translation  of  the  latter  part 
of  the  verse  is,  and  they  rebelled  not  against  his  word. 
The  old  version,  still  used  in  our  common  prayer,  is, 
and  they  were  not  obedient  unto  his  word.  The  two 
versions  evidently  contradict  each  other:  the  original 
words  are  printed  \yy\  nO  nSv^  It  would,  I  think^ 
be  of  no  moment  to  consider  how  the  translators  came 
thus  to  differ;  the  reader  may  see  it  by  consulting  the 
critics:''  I  do  not  find  any  good  way  proposed  for  bring- 
ing them  to  an  agreement.  Both  the  versions  cannot 
be  true  ;  and  it  is,  therefore,  possil)le,  that  neither  may. 
I  would  hereupon  inquire,  whether  what  we  make  two 
words  Ys'O  5^7?  and  read  ha  maru,  were  not  originally 
written  in  one  word  ^"IDN??  to  be  read  leoemoruj  the 
literal  translation  of  the  verse  to  be  thus;  He  sent  dark- 
ness,) and  made  it  dark,  and  by  his  speaking  his  word.\ 
In  this  correction  we  do  not  alter  a  letter:  we  only 
suppose  what  are  now  read  in  two  words  to  be  really 
but  one,  and  we  vowel  the  words  to  sound  their  sylla- 
bles but  very  little  differently  in  the  one  case  or  the 
other.'  But  the  fact  alluded  to  being,  that  God  said 
unto  Mosesy  stretch  out  thine  hand  toward  Heaven* 
that  thet^e  may  be  darkness  over  the  land  of  Egypt — 
and  Moses  stretched  forth  his  hand  toward  Heaven, 

*  This  alteration  is  not  authorised  by  any  of  the  MSS.  collated  either  by 
Kennicott,  or  De  Rossi.     Kbit. 

%  The  word  is  printed  in  the  text  mai,  but  the  marginal  reference  tell  us  it 
should  be  ^•\y^. 

f>  Vide  Poll  Synops.  in  loo. 

f  Neither  is  this  emendation  authorised  by  any  of  the  collations,  already  re- 
ferred to.     Edit. 

'  no  N>.     We  read  ipowS.    We  must  punctuate  the  words  instead  of  nc 


28  INTRODUCTION. 

and  there  was  a  thick  darkness  in  all  the  land  of 
Egypt :^  and  the  intention  of  the  Psalmist  being  to  as- 
cribe these  miracles  most  expressly  to  tlie  word  of  God  : 
He  spake,  says  he,  and  there  came  divers  sorts  of  flies ^ 
and  lice  in  all  their  coasts  /'  again,  He  spake,  and  the 
locusts  came,  ^-c. :  both  the  manner  of  the  Psalmist,  and 
the  clear  meaning  of  the  place,  seem  to  lead  us  to  the 
reading  for  which  I  am  inquiring. 

I  am  sensible  that  some  very  pious  English  readers 
may  hastily  take  oifence  at  every  liberty  of  this  sort : 
and  will  be  ready  to  ask  ;  May  not  a  pretender  to  learn- 
ing, at  this  rate,  make  what  he  will  of  our  Bible  ?  I  an- 
swer, not  at  all ;  and  may  give  a  very  plain  view,  as  it 
were,  of  the  whole  of  this  matter.  Suppose  our  English 
tongue  had  been  originally  written  like  the  Hebrew, 
without  inserting  the  vowels,  which  give  us  the  sound 
of  the  syllables.  Let  us  consider  the  following  para- 
graph, he  that  taketh  heed  to  the  commandment  offereth 
a  peace-offering."'  It  may  be  seen,  that  if  these  words 
were  to  be  written  without  vowels,  the  words  peace-of- 
fering might  be  thus  characterized,  p  c  f  fr  ng.  Sup- 
pose, through  some  early  mistake  of  transcribing,  all 
printed  copies  had  both  divided  erroneously  these  let- 
ters into  words,  and  had  not  put  the  proper  vowels  un- 
der their  respective  letters;  suppose  the  letters  ^  which 
make  one  word,  had  the  vowels,  being  ie  e,  put  under 
them,  as  I  have  marked  them  ;  ie  to  be  read  between  p 
and  c,  and  e  after  c,  a  final  letter ;  so  as  to  read  this 
word  piece.  Suppose  the  first/  was  taken  to  be  a  word 
by  itself,  and  o  put  under  it,  to  read  it  of;  suppose  ^ 
were  vowelled,  as  I  have  underlined  them ;  i  to  be 
sounded  after  r,  e  to  be  the  final  letter,  the  word  to  be 
thus  re^id,  fringe ;  would  any  one  rest  satisfied  to  read 
the  sentence,  he  that  taketh  heed  to  the  commandmenty 
offereth  a  piece  of  fringe?  and  should  anyone  show, 
that  q/'is,  with  the  following  letters,  but  one  word,  and 
that  the  letters  might  be  so  vowelled,  as  to  read 
pc  f  fr  ng,  a  peace-offering;  would  not  the  clear 
sense  of  the  place  vindicate  this  to  be  the  true  reading, 
and  evince  that  the  other,  of  what  date  soever,  and  how 
much  soever  followed-,  must  be  an  error?     And  would 


k  Exod.  X,  21,  22.  Ps.'d.  cv,  31,  34 

"■  Ecclus.  XXXV,  1 


INTRODUCTION.  29 

any  reasonable  man  be  ready  to  think  of  him,  who 
should  offer  so  expressive  an  emendation,  that  it  might 
be  dangerous,  lest  he  should  make  the  English  tongue 
speak  whatever  he  had  a  mind  to,  and  not  its  certain 
and  true  meaning?  I  do  not  intend  to  insinuate  that 
the  case  I  have  put  exactly  resembles  either  of  our  trans- 
lations of  the  Psalmist,  above  cited:  it  certainly  does  not, 
neither  of  our  translations  being  in  themselves  absurd. 
And  the  Hebrew  tongue  is  not  so  various  in  its  number 
of  words,  so  far  similar,  that  such  instances  can  occur  in 
it,  as  may  be  in  our  English,  if  so  written.  But,  al- 
though in  the  Hebrew  the  vowels  put  under  the  words 
in  points,  may  be  necessary  to  pronunciation,  to  teach 
or  remind  us  to  give  the  word  such  syllables,  and  each 
syllable  such  sound,  as  the  points  put  under  them  direct; 
yet,  as  such  points  were  not  originally  in  the  sacred 
pages;"  so  neither  are  they  necessary  for  any  one  who 
tolerably  understands  the  language  to  ascertain  the  true 
meaning  of  a  text.  For,  if  a  word  happen  to  be  wrong 
punctuated,  it  may  mislead  him;  and,  if  it  be  not  punc- 
tuated at  all,  the  letters  of  the  word,  and  the  context, 
will  better  direct  him  to  see  tiije  true  meaning  of  the 
text,  witiiout  any  false  bias  to  divert  him  from  it. 

The  talking  of  various  readings,  transpositions  of 
words,  additions  in  some  copies  of  the  Scriptures,  omis- 
sions in  others,  are,  indeed,  matters  so  managed  by  the 
artful,  who  desire  to  perplex  and  deceive,  as  to  raise  ter- 
rible appearances  or  apprehensions  in  the  minds  of  the 
well-meaning,  but  unwary  and  unlearned.  And  I  know 
of  no  writer,  who  has  aimed  at  this  point  more  unfairly 
than  the  late  Lord  Bolingbroke;  who  roundly  tells  us, 
that  "  the  Scriptures  are  come  down  to  us  broken  and 
confused,  full  of  additions,  interpolations,  and  transposi- 
tions, made,  we  neither  know  when,  nor  by  whom  ;  and 
such,  in  short,  as  never  appeared  on  the  hc.e  of  any  other 
book  on  whose  authority  men  have  agreed  to  rely.'*°  In 
another  place,  he  says  the  Scriptures  are  ••extracts  of 
histories,  not  histories;  extracts  of  genealogies,  not  gene- 
alogies ;"P  and,  in  a  third  place,  that  '^  it  would  not  be 
hard  to  show,  upon  great  inducements  of  probability, 

»  See  what  the  very  learned  Dean  I'rkleaux  has  written  at  larg'e  upon  th^s 
subject.  Connect,  part  i,  book  v. 

«  Of  the  Study  of  History,  letter  iii,  p.  95,  96. 
P   Id.  p.  102. 

Vol.  IV.  E 


30  INTRODUCTION. 

that  the  law  and  the  history  were  far  from  being 
blended  together,  as  they  now  stand  in  the  Pentateuch, 
even  from  the  time  of  Moses  down  to  that  of  Esdras.**'' 
It  would  not  be  decent  in  me  to  say  how  palpably  un- 
true all  these  assertions  are.  The  two  last  I  considered 
very  largely,  sometime  ago ;  and  I  hope,  with  the  ut- 
most freedom  and  impartiality/  And  that  the  sacred 
books  are  far  from  having  had  a  worse  preservation 
than  other  ancient  writings,  has  been  unanswerably 
shown  by  a  more  able  hand,  as  far  as  concerns  the  New 
Testament;'  and  should  Dr.  Kennicott  proceed  as  he 
began,  and  collate  the  manuscripts  and  printed  copies 
of  the  Old  Testament,  we  sliould  see  the  event  come  out 
in  the  one  case,  as  it  is  known  to  have  done  in  the 
other.*  Dr.  Bentley  would  have  told  Lord  Boling- 
broke,  upon  what  he  says  of  additions^  omissions,  in- 
terpolations,  variations^  ^^c.  in  the  Scriptures,  ^^  that  it 
filled  him  with  disdain  to  see  such  common  stuff  brought 
in  with  an  air  of  importance."'  All  his  lordsbip  offers 
has  been  before  offered  even  by  the  lowest  creatures  of 
the  unbelieving  tribe;  even  the  assertion  upon  which 
his  lordship  seems  to  .plume  himself,  that  "'the  Scrip- 
tures w^ould  have  been  preserved  entirely  in  their  ge- 
nuine purity,  had  they  been  entirely  dictated  by  the 
Holy  Ghost  ;"*  and  they  have  been  answered  over  and 
over." 

T/iesp  nrp  the  kings,  that  rpignrd  in  the  hind  of 
Edom,  before  there  reigned  any  king  over  the  children 
of  Israel.''  It  is  commonly  observed  concerning  this 
paragraph,  that  it  could  not  be  written  until  after  there 
had  been  a  king  in  Israel ;  /.  e  until  after  the  times  of 
Saul,  and  consequently  that  it  was  not  written  by  Mo- 
ses. Now  suppose  that  we  can  in  nowise  find  out  by 
whom  it  was  written;  admit  that  some  private  owner  of 
a  manuscript  Pentateuch  wrote  it  in  the  margin  of  his 
manuscript,  as  a  remark  of  his  own ;  that  a  copier  of 

<!  Of  the  Study  of  History,  letter  iii,  p.  100. 

''  Preface  to  Connect,  vol.  iii,  p.  22,  &c. 

■-   I'hilelcutli.  Lipsicns.  part  i,  p.  92 — 114. 

•  Dr.  Kennicott  has  completed  his  task ;  and  a  learned  fisreigner,  De  Rossi., 
has  preatly  extended  the  inquiry ;  and  the  result  is  as  creditable  to  the  cause 
ol  divine  revelation,  as  Dr.  Shuckford  had  conjectured.  See  Dr.  Kenn.cott's 
Hebrew  Bible,  2  vols.  fol.  Oxon.  17 — ,  and  the  Variac  Lectiones  Vet.  Testa 
menti,  by  J.  H.  Dc  Rossi,  4  vols  4to,  Parinx,  1784—88.     Edit, 

'  [..ord  Bolingbroke's  Letter,  iii,  p.  95. 

"'  See  Phil,  i/ipsien.  «  Gen.  xxxvi,  31 


INTRODUCTION.  31 

such  manuscript  carelessly  wrote  it  into  the  text  of  his 
transcript ;  is  there  any  thing  material  in  this  interpola- 
tion? must  not  the  learned  see  that  the  scripture  is  per- 
fect without  it  ?  and  can  the  unlearned  see  any  detri- 
ment in  having  the  observation  ?  Of  this  sort  are  the 
interpolations  so  formidably  talked  of.  They  are  very 
few  in  number,  thougli  said,  at  random,  to  be  so  many. 
And  whatever  apprehensions  may  be  raised  in  the  minds 
of  the  unlearned  about  them;  nothing  is  more  easy  to 
be  shown,  than  that  no  point  of  our  religion  is  materially 
aiTected  by  them  at  all. 

^'  But  there  are  omissions  in  some  texts  of  Scrip- 
ture— ."  They  who  say  this  should  produce  their  in- 
stances, deal  openly  and  fairly  with  the  world ;  let  us 
see  of  what  nature  their  objectiou  is,  that  we  may  not 
be  amused  and  alarmed,  where  there  is  no  reason.  I 
will  therefore  give  an  instance  or  two,  that  even  the 
unlearned  reader  may  judge  of  this  particular.  In  the 
xiith  chapter  of  Exodus,  ver.  40,  we  read,  jVoiv  the  so- 
journing  of  the  children  of  Israel,  ivho  dwelt  in  Egi/pt 
(I  would  rather  translate  the  Hebrew  words,  ivhich  they 
sojourned  J  in  the  land  of  Egypt,  was  four  hundred 
and  thirty  years.  It  is  plain,  that  the  Israelites  were 
not  four  hundred  and  thirty  years  in  Egypt ;  for  they 
came  into  Egypt  A.  M.  2298,>'  and  their  exit  was  A.  M. 
2513;^  so  that  their  sojourning  in  Egypt  was  but  two 
hundred  and  fifteen  years.  But  the  Septuagint  gives 
us  this  text  as  follows  :  J\'*ow  the  sojourning  of  the  chil- 
dren of  Israel,  xvhich  they  sojourned  in  the  land  of 
Egypt,  and  in  the  land  of  Canaan,  ivas  four  hundred 
and  thirty  years :''  the  words  here  added  are,  and  in 
the  land  of  Canaan.  Now  Abraham  came  into  Canaan 
to  sojourn  there  A.  M.  2083  :''  if  we  count  hence  to  the 
exit,  we  find  it  exactly  four  hundred  and  thirty  years. 
What  difficulty  now  can  we  have,  even  supposing  that 
no  Hebrew  manuscript,  now  extant,  has  the  words, 
which  we  render,  and  in  the  land  of  Egypt;"  will  not 
any  reasonable  inquirer  think,  that  these  words  were  in 

y  See  Connect,  vol.  ii,  book  vii,  p.  143. 

*  Book  IX,  p.  273. 

»  'H  (Ts  KATotKiia-i;  tuv  vlcev  'Ij-^cmx,  mv  k^tukhtuv  h  yn  AiyuTT'TUi  ««  «v  ytf 
XstvAav,  iTit  iTTO-f-xKoa-ioi  rptijcovrx.     Vers.  Septuagint. 

^  Connect,  vol.  i,  book  v,  p.  168. 

"=  I  ouEfht  not  to  omit,  that  in  the  Samaritan  Pentateuch  the  Hebrew  words 
are  fountl,  which  we  render  and  in  the  land  of  Egypt. 


32  INTRODUCTION. 

the  text  from  which  the  Septuagint  translated^  and  that 
they  really  helong  to  the  Hebrew  text,  though  the 
manuscript  copies  we  have  may?  by  some  carelessness  of 
copiers,  have  omitted  them?  The  observation  of  our 
learned  critic  is  a  very  just  one  :  ^'  If  emendations  are 
true,  they  must  have  been  once  in  some  manuscripts,  at 
least  in  the  authors  original.  But  it  will  not  follow, 
that  because  no  manuscript  now  exhibits  them,  none 
more  ancient  ever  did."'' 

No  one  can  doubt  hut  that  Moses,  in  the  xxxiiid 
chapter  of  Deuteronomy,  blessed  the  twelve  tribes, 
every  tribe  particularly,  according  to  his  blessing;  and 
yet  we  are  said  to  have  no  one  copy  of  the  original  text, 
no  one  version  in  general,  which  mentions  the  tribe  of 
Simeon  at  all;  the  Alexandrian  manuscript  of  the  Sep- 
tuagint, only  inserting  the  name  Simeon  in  the  6th 
verse,  writes  that  verse,  in  that  one  word,  differently 
from  all  other  copies."  Here  then  is  an  omission  which 
cannot  be  supplied  from  any  Hebrew  manuscript:  will 
it  therefore  follow  that  there  is  no  omission  ?  No  ver- 
sion that  we  now  have  amends  this  omission,  except  one 
copy  of  one  translation.*  Will  it  follow,  that  originally 
all  versions  had  not  the  name  of  Simeon?  Is  it  not  ap- 
parently more  reasonable  to  conclude,  that  the  Alexan- 
drian manuscript  was  trajiscribed  from  some  copy  of 
some  more  ancient  manuscript  which  had  the  word  Si- 
meon; that  the  original  manuscript  of  the  Septuagint 
translated  from  a  Hebrew  copy,  which  had  it  likewise; 
and  that  the  word  Simeon  was  originally  in  the  Hebrew 
text;  however,  through  some  carelessness  of  transcribers, 
it  came  to  be  dropped,  and  to  occasion  great  numbers  of 
copies  and  versions  to  be  without  it?  There  is  room  in 
all  cases  of  this  nature  for  reasonable  consideration  and 
inquiry:  and  I  dare  venture  to  affirm,  that  there  is  no 
Scripture  difliculty,  of  which  a  serious  inquirer,  able  to 
make  a  proper  search  for  it,  may  not  find  a  proper  solu- 


■'  T'hil.  Lips.  p.  106. 

"  The  Hebrew  text  is, 

-isDS  vnn  'DM  nc  Sni  jaiN-i  \-i^ 
The  common  Septuagint  version  is  Znru  'PaCnv  xm  /u>i  d'crcdu.vtTU!  kh  Wu  "S'sm: 
f/  af&fxm:  The  Alex.mdrian  manuscript  is,   Zjitsd  'P^Cijr  xju  /«#  awofiivtr*'  K«u 

*  Several  copits  ot  tlie  Septuagint,  besides  the  Alexandrian,  liave  Zufjita^w 
See  tlicm  in  Dr.  Holmes's  edition  of"  the  I'entateucli,  cum  variis  lectionibiis, 
Ibl.  Oxon.  1798.     Kdit. 


INTRODUCTION.  33 

tion.  As  for  those,  who  have  not  literature  for  this 
examination;  if  they  read  the  Scriptures  with  a  careful 
design  to  be  made  ivise  unto  salvation,  tliey  wili  soon 
know  enough,  not  to  be  led  away  blindly  by  persons, 
who  perhaps  know  little  more  than  what  may  just  enable 
them  to  impose  upon  and  deceive  otiiers  in  points,  of 
which,  whether  they  can  say  correctly,  what  is  the  right 
or  the  wrong,  may  be  of  no  material  moment. 

The  learned  have  raised  a  dilliculty  about  a  text  in 
St.  John's  First  Epistle,  whether  in  chap,  v,  verses  7, 
and  8,  for  there  are  three  that  bear  record  {^in  Heaven, 
the  Father,  the  IVord,  and  the  Holy  Ghost :  and  these 
three  are  one.  And  there  are  three  that  bear  witness 
in  Earth, J  the  Spirit,  and  the  water,  and  the  blood, 
and  these  three  agree  in  one — ;  whether  the  words 
written  in  Italics,  are  in  some  manuscripts;  and  in  what 
particular  copies  they  are  not?  The  reader  may  see  the 
whole  of  what  can  be  oifered  upon  this  point  in  Dr. 
Mills,*  and  will  probably  think  there  is  nothing  in  the 
whole,  which  will  greatly  aifect  him,  when  he  considers, 
that  what  is  here  said  of  the  Father,  the  Son,  and  the 
Holy  Ghost,  that  they  are  one,  is  a  doctrine  to  be  de- 
duced from  various  other  texts  of  Scripture.  And,  if  I 
may  be  permitted,  I  would  inquire,  whether  it  may  not 
perhaps  be  shown  to  be  not  a  jot  or  tittle  more,  than 
what  even  Moses  had  declared  fifteen  hundred  years 
before  the  writing  any  books  of  the  New  Testament  were 
at  all  thought  of. 

The  39th  verse  of  the  thirty-second  chapter  of  Deu- 
teronomy has,  in  our  English  version  of  it,  these  words, 
/,  even  I  am  He,  and  there  is  no  God  icith  me.  I  would 
here  observe,  1.  That  the  Hebrew  text  is,  Ani  Ani  Hua, 
ve  ein  Elohim  nimmadi:^  2.  There  is  no  word  in  the 
text  answering  to  the  English  word  eveti,  nor  is  there 
any  verb  expressed  in  the  text,  no  word  for  am,  nor  for 
is.  3.  That  Ani  Ani  is  not  the  usual  way  of  expressing 
7et'e?2 /in  Hebrew.  It  should  rather  have  h^tn  Ani 
hinneni,  if  I  even  I  had  been  intended.  I  even  /do  bring 

*  Vide  Millii  Testam.  Nov.  ad  fin.  Epist.  prims:  Sancti  Joliannis, — Several 
writers,  since  Dr.  Mills,  have  published  for  and  agaaist  tlie  authority  of  the 
above  verse.  The  verse  is  in  no  autlientic  MS.  but  the  Codex  \iontfortii,  in 
Trinity  College,  Dublin  :  but  the  doctrine  itself  is  in  almost  everv  pag^e  of  the 
Old  and  New  I'estaments.     Edit. 

8  The  Hebrew  words  are, 


34  INTKOUUCTIOiN. 

a  flood,  is  not  Jlni  Ani,  but  Jlni  kmnenty  For  these 
reasoiiSj  ought  we  not  to  translate  the  words  of  Moses 
literally?  Ani  Ani  Hua  ve  tin  Eloliim  ni?nmadi,'  I.  /, 
He,  but  not  Gods  ivitfi  me.  The  verb  substantive,  here 
undei-stood,  speaks  itself  to  be,  there  are :  I  and  /,  and 
He,  are  three  personal  pronouns  :  and  the  whole  sen- 
tence is  verbally  rendered,  there  are  I,  and  /,  and  He,^ 
hut  not  Gods  ivith  me.  It  was  a  doctrine  before  taught 
by  Moses,  that  there  were  more  persons  than  one  called 
Jehovah,  God,  ivhom  no  man  hath  seen  at  any  time, 
nor  can  see;  and  the  Lord  who  had  appeared  unto 
Abraham?  And  yet  he  strictly  charges  Israel  to  hear, 
i.  e.  to  observe  it  to  be  ihe'w  faith,  that  Jehovah,  their 
Elohim,  was  one  Jehovah.''^  May  we  not  suppose  him 
in  the  text  before  us,  declaring  in  the  terms  of  the  same 
faith,  that  the  three  persons  he  here  speaks  of  were  not 
Elohim,  Gods  in  the  plural  number;"  for  to  use  the 
words  of  Scripture,  they  were  one  Jehovah. 

If  what  I  have  thus  ofl'ered  may  be  admitted,  it  must 
surely  be  a  vain  labour  for  any  to  endeavour  to  strike 
the  words  which  they  desire  to  contest  out  of  the  New 
Testament;  unless  they  could  really  put  the  doctrine  in- 
tended in  them  out  of  the  Old.  But  such  is  the  harmony 
of  Scripture,  that  nothing  in  it  is  really  Ihiac,  EmkvGsidc,," 
of  a  private  interpretation,  so  peculiarly  differing  from 
all  other  Scriptures,  as  not  to  have  such  a  coincidence 
w  ith  them,  as  may  warrant  it  to  be  true.  Ratlier,  often- 
times, what  the  prophets  of  a  later  age  have  said,  when 
considered,  discovers  its  having  such  a  foundation  in 

'■  See  Gen.  vi,  17.     Behold  I  even  I  do  bring  a  food— is 
•joDn-nN  NOD  vjn  '>jn 
and  it  is  by  some  thought  that  ^JJ^l  here  should  be  written  ?ijn  without  the 
filijix  pronoun,  us  in  Exod   xxxi,  6. 
*  nny    D^n'?N    t^xi    Nin    •'JN    ij.s 

mecum    Dii    at  non  lUe  Ego  Ego 
A  lilie  expression,  1  think,  is  found  in  Isaiah  xUii,  25. 

Tj?e'D  nno  Nin  '3J>5  '3JN 
and  in  a  like  signification.  It  was  God,  wlio  is  anochi,  anodd,  Uua^  or  ani,  luii, 
/lua,  that  blotted  out  the  transgressions  of  his  pet)plc. 

k  The  comma  in  English  supphcs  tlie  co])ulative,  which  cannot  but  be  un- 
derstood in  the  Hebrew,  thougli  not  inserted. 
'  See  Connect,  vol.  ii,  book  ix,  p.  244. 

■n  See  Dcut.  vi,  4;  Connect,  vol.  ii,  book  ix,  p.  244.     The  Hebrew  words 
in  Dent,  vi,  4,  are,  inN  mn>  irnVn  mrr 

"  The  word  a<n*7N  is  often  used  ;is  a  noun  plural  in  Scripture  ;  see  cS'pSn 
I3*?n.     2  Sam.  vii,  22;  see  Deut.  vi,  13,  £vc, 
"  2  Pet.  i,  20.  • 


INTRODUCTION,  35 

what  had  been  said  before,  thougli  the  speakers  had 
evidently  no  intention  of  speaking  one  from  the  other ; 
that  herein  appears  some  signature  that  what  is  said  is 
ofGoD.P 

There  remain  to  be  considered  some  other  variations 
of  copies  of  the  sacred  books  from  one  another.  The 
books  of  the  New  Testament  have,  it  seems,  been  col- 
lated with  so  scrupulous  an  exactness,  that  we  have  it 
marked  as  a  various  reading,  if  there  be  in  different 
copies,  or  versions  from  copies,  or  in  citations  of  texts 
by  subsequent  writers  for  near  five  hundred  years,  the 
least  difference  of  writing,  the  smallest  particle  or  arti- 
cle of  speech  ;  or  if  the  order  and  collocation  of  words 
minutely  differ,  though  the  meaning  is  exactly,  and  most 
clearly  the  same ;  and  with  all  this  indefatigable  pre- 
ciseness,  the  variations  in  the  New  Testament  only  are 
said  to  be  thirty  thousand. 'I  But  let  us  consider:  can 
we  think  of  any  book,  if  it  had  been  published  so  many 
years,  and  there  were  so  many  different  copies  of  it, 
translations  into  different  tongues,  citations  made  from 
it  in  divers  languages,  and  all  these  were  to  be  ran- 
sacked, and  it  were  remarked  as  a  different  reading, 
wherever  the  word  and  was  written  in  three  letters,  or 
in  the  character  &,  this  was  written  y,  that  y,  there- 
fore |)^„,,.,  &c.  with  many  other  such''  minutenesses;  might 
not  abundance  of  variations  beyond  number  be  amassed 
in  this  manner?  Our  learned  critic  assures  us,  upon  his 
own  knowledge,  that  there  is  hardly  a  classic  author, 
which,  if  thus  examined,  would  not  afford  more  various 
readings  than  the  Scriptures.'  I  may  perhaps  be  al- 
lowed to  say  very  safely,  that  of  the  thirty  thousand 
variations  in  the  New  Testament,  not  near  one  in  a 
thousand  are  in  themselves  worthy  to  be  in  the  least  re- 
garded ;  thougli  the  learned  and  laborious  do  well  to 
collect  them,  that  those  who  know  how  to  use  them  may 
have  full  materials  to  shovv,  that  all  the  fancies  and  sur- 
mises, of  which  the  opposers  of  religion  are  ever  preg- 
nant in  their  imagination,  are  rash,  groundless,  frivolous, 
and  vain.     And,    respecting  the  few  that  are  of  any 


p  2  I'ct.  i,  20.  q  See  Piiileleuth  Lips. 

'  We  might  gather  many  of  this  kind  of  variations  Irom  books  printed  ii; 
the  old -black  letter,  wherein  are  numbers  of  abbreviations  different  from  any 
now  in  use. 

5  Phil.  Lips.  p.  96,  97, 


3b  INTUODUCTIUN. 

moment  in  cither  the  Old  Testament  or  the  New ;  so 
far  as  my  little  inquiry  has  been  able  to  proceed,  I  nevei^ 
could  sec  one,  but  suoh  an  account  may  he  given  of  it 
as  will  show  that  it  neither  deprives  me  of  the  instruc- 
tion of  any  page  of  the  sacred  writings,  nor  destroys 
any  article  of  the  faith,  nor  alters  or  makes  void  any 
one  duty  of  our  religion.  And  I  may  safely  ailirm  to 
those  who  of  themselves  cannot  find  out  these  particu- 
lars, or,  if  pointed  out,  are  not  able  readily  to  judge 
of  them  ;  that  although  I  would  not  prevent  any  from 
endeavouring  to  add  knowledge  to  their  faith,  in  what- 
ever points  they  are  able;  being  fully  satisfied,  that  no 
freedom  of  inquiry,  justly  conducted,  can  be  of  disser- 
vice to  the  truth,  provided  we  do  not  give  oui'selves  up 
to  be  carried  to  and  fro,  with  every  wind  of  what  seems 
new  to  us,  beyond  what  we  understand  :  I  say,  even  the 
lowest  of  our  people,  who  can  only  read,  mark,  learn, 
and  digest  otir  Scriptures  as  our  English  version  offers 
them  to  us,  to  gather  from  them  that  doctrine,  reproof, 
correction,  and  instruction  in  righteousness,  which  they 
plainly  afford  us,  will  find,  that  they  can  want  nothing 
more  to  make  them  wise  unto  salvation :  and  conse- 
quently, how  obvious  to  them  will  be  the  answer  long 
ago  returned  to  such  a  surmise,  as  is  offered  by  Lord 
Bolingbroke?  That  ^' if  the  Scriptures  were  entirely 
the  word  of  God,  all  of  them  absolutely  given  by  inspi- 
ration, they  would  have  been  as  absolutely  preserved 
from  all  variations  of  copies,  and  mistakes  of  tran- 
scribers." 

The  answer  is :  What  a  scheme  would  these  men 
make?  What  worthy  rules  would  they  prescribe  to 
providence?  That  in  millions  of  copies  transcribed  in 
so  many  ages  and  nations,  all  the  scribes  or  notaries, 
many  of  whom,  perhaps,  made  it  their  trade  and  liveli- 
hood to  transcribe,  should,  whenever  they  wrote  out 
Scripture,  be  infallible  and  impeccable;  that  their  pens 
should  spontaneously  write  true,  or  be  supcrnaturally 
guided,  though  the  scribes  were  nodding  and  dreaming. 
Now,  to  what  purpose  should  we  require  this  miracle; 
to  keep  clear  and  indubious  the  articles  of  our  faith,  or 
the  necessary  rules  for  our  moral  lives?  No :  in  all 
these  we  arc  safe,  notwithstanding  any  imperfections  of 
copies ;  but  merely  to  silence  every  doubt  and  whim, 
which  no  man  truly  religious,  drawn  by  the  cords  of  a 


INTRODUCTION.  37 

man,  by  rational,  ingenuous,  and  moral  motives,  will 
have,  but  may  be  captiously  taken  up  by  the  impiety 
and  folly  of  such  as  will  be  pleased  with  any  thing, 
which  only  seems  to  be  an  objection  against  the  Scrip- 
tures.* 

Upon  the  whole,  variations  of  Evangelists  in  their 
accounts  of  the  same  facts,  the  conduct  of  this  or  that 
particular  apostle,  and  likewise  some  little  difference  in 
copies  of  the  Scriptures,  are  topics,  which  designing 
men,  with  very  little  examination  and  knowledge  of 
what  they  confidently  affirm,  are  extremely  apt  to  take 
up;  one  saying  just  what  another  had  said  before  him, 
only  perhaps  with  a  little  more  freedom  and  false  assu- 
rance ;  not  considering  how  fully  all  they  say,  or  can 
say  upon  these  topics,  has  been  answered  over  and  over. 
To  writers  thus  determined,  of  saying  the  same  things 
there  is  no  end.  All  we  can  do,  is  to  remind  the  candid 
and  sincere,  that  the  points  so  industriously  propagated, 
have  been  fully,  freely,  and  impartisPlly  considered  by  the 
ablest  writers,  not  only  of  that  profession,  which  it  is 
become  a  fashion,  with  some,  most  unmercifully  to  speak 
against;  but  by  gentlemen  also  of  inquiry  and  impar- 
tiality; of  ability  and  character,  which  no  approbation 
of  mine  can  add  to.  And,  both  from  what  they^have 
particularly  written,*  and  from  what  others  have  more 
in  general  considered  upon  these  subjects;  it  may  be 
sufficiently  known,  even  by  the  plainest  reader,  that  the 
providence  of  Gou  has  permitted  the  Scriptures  to  have 
the  lot  of  all  other  writings  which  have  passed  through 
the  hands  of  men.  Even  the  writers  of  these  books  have 
sometimes  been  permitted  to  differ,  both  in  conduct  and 
in  matters  related  by  them,  so  as  to  make  it  evident, 
that  there  has  been  no  confederacy  of  men  to  make  the 
Scriptures  what  they  are.  But  there  is  in  the  sacred 
pages,  in  the  New  Testament,  a  morality  so  perfect^ 
that  it  cannot  be  conceived,  humanly  speaking,  that  the 
first  preachers  of  the  gospel,  men  of  such  low  parts  and 
education  as  they  were,  could  in  all  points,  without  any 

f  SeePhil.  Lips.  p.  112,  113. 

♦  No  reader,  that  would  judge  of  these  subjects,  should  omit  to  consider 
and  examine  carefully  Mr.  WesVs  Observations  on  the  Resurrection  of  Christ: 
and  another  treatise  entitled,  Observations  on  the  Conversion  and  Apostlcship 
of  St.  i'aul. — To  which  should  be  added,  the  Bishop  of  Landaff's  Apology 
for  the  Bible;  and  above  all,  I'alcy's  Evidences  of  the  Christian  Religion. 
Edit. 

Vol.  TV.  *  F 


oS  INTRODUCTION. 

one  error,*  have  thus  taught  the  way  of  God  in  perfect 
truth.  There  is  a  forgiveness  of  sin,  exactly  what  is 
necessary  for  man;^  and  yet  determinately  indulging  no 
one  human  corruption  whatsoever.^  There  is  an  atone- 
ment for  sin,  such  as  no  invention  of  man  would  have 
proposed;*  and  yet  so  foretold,  and  prefigured  from  the 

"  It  would  have  weight  with  any  serious  examiner  to  consider,  that  although 
the  wise  heathens  endeavoured,  by  the  light  of  reason,  to  trace  out  the  lines 
of  moral  duty,  and  many  excellent  rules  were  given  by  many  of  them,  and  per- 
haps a  careful  collector  might  form  a  good  system  from  them  all ;  yet,  as  they 
were  but  men,  so  every  one  of  them  had  their  mistakes.  Rut  herein  there  is 
a  difference ;  there  are  no  defects,  no  one  error  in  the  morality  of  the  gospel. 
The  first  publishers  of  it  were  mean,  illiterate,  unlearned  men  ;  and  yet  they 
gave  us  moral  precepts,  all  pure,  all  unmixed:  no  conceits,  or  false  rules; 
nothing  tending  to  the  by-ends  of  any  man,  or  any  party;  no  tang  of  fancy 
or  superstition  ;  no  footsteps  of  pride  or  vanity ;  no  touch  of  ostentittion  and 
ambition;  bui  all  sincere.  Nothing  too  much,  nothing  wanting;  but  the 
■whole  is  so  perfect  and  complete,  and  tends  so  absolutely  to  the  good  of  man- 
kind, that  all  would  be  happy,  even  in  this  world,  if  all  would  sincerely  be- 
lieve and  practise  it. 

y  The  Scriptures  conclude  every  man  to  be  under  sin.  Gal.  iii,  22,  affirming 
that  there  is  no  man  that  simif.th  not,  1  Kings  vii,  46.  And  not  only  the  Scrip- 
tures testify  that  we  every  dfle  know  this  ourselves,  that  if  -zee  say  7ve  have  no 
sin,  ive  deceive  ourselves,  and  the  truth  is  not  in  us,  1  John  i,  8,  but  the  very 
heathens  allow  it.  •'  Quisque  innocentem  se  dicit,  respiciens  testem  non  con- 
scientiam,"  says  Seneca,  de  Ira,  lib.  i.  The  question  then  will  occur,  hoio  can 
man  be  jtiatijied  ivith  God  ?  Job  xxv,  4.  A  forgiveness  of  sin  must  be  necessary, 
without  which  no  soul  can  be  saved. 

z  The  point  I  wotdd  here  offer  to  the  reader's  consideration  is,  whether, 
if  the  pardon  of  sin  offered  in  the  gospel  had  been  the  contrivance  of  men,  it 
would  not,  like  what  human  contrivance  is  for  inventing,  have  offered  indul- 
gences  for  particular  failings ;  and  whether,  therefore,  on  the  contrary,  con- 
sidered truly  as  it  is,  a  doctrine  which  favours  no  one  foible  of  human  nature, 
admits  no  thought  of  our  continuing  in  any  one  sin,  that  ffrace  may  abound, 
Rom.  vi,  1,  as  there  can  be  no  deceit  where  there  is  no  error  proposed  to  Os ; 
a  pardon  of  sin,  thus  circumstanced,  does  not  approve  itself  to  be  not  only 
grace  but  truth,  John  i,  17. 

■  The  sentiments,  which  the  inquisitive  heathens  had  upon  this  subject, 
were  as  follow.  They  agreed  that  philosophy  was  useful  to  correct  what  might 
be  wrong  in  us.  "  Est  profecto  animi  disciplina  philosophia .-"  Cic.  Tusc. 
Disput.  lib.  iii,  c.  3.  They  did  not  see  how  they  could  purge  or  cleanse  the 
conscience  from  sins  which  had  been  committed.  All  the  known  rites  of  ab- 
lution they  knew  to  be  unphilosopliical:  "Animi  labes  nee  diuturnitate  eva- 
nescere  nee  amnibus  uUis  elui  potest:"  Cic.  de  Leg  lib.  ii,  c.  10.  They  did 
not  think  that  repentance  could  make  them  whole.  "  Quern  pccnitet  peccasse 
pene  est  innocens,"  is,  I  think,  said  by  the  same  writer,  who  does  not  wholly 
acquit  upon  repentance.  They  had  notions  that  there  might  be  purgations  of 
sin  in  another  world.     Thus  Virgil  speaks  of  souls  departed, 

" excrcentur  poenis,  veterumque  malorum 

Supplicia  expendvmt :  alix  panduntur  inanes 
Suspense  ad  ventos :  aliis  sub  guigite  vasto 
Infectum  eluitur  scelus,  aut  exuritur  igni . 

Quisque  suos  patimur  manes. " 

iExEiD,  lib.  vi. 

The  construction  in  the  last  verse  is,  I  think,  clear  and  easy  ;  though  both 
our  commentators  and  dictionaries  seem  to  make  it  difficult.  Manes  signifies 
our  spirits  departed  ont  of  this  lite.  It  is  the  accusative  case,  signifying  the 
part  of  us  affected ;  like  doleo  caput,  I  have  pain  in  my  head;  patimur  manes  is. 


INTRODUCTION.  39 

beginnings  throughout  all  ages,  that  we  must  think  it 
hath  been  appointed  by  God.  In  the  Old  Testament, 
there  is  the  very  same  morality,  though  not  so  fully  ex- 
plained, and  enforced  to  perfection;  in  which  He  who 
came  not  to  destroy  the  law  and  the  prophets,  but  to 
fulfil  them,  taught  with  authority,  how  what  they  read 
in  the  law  was  to  be  understood,  to  direct  both  the 
thoughts  of  their  heart  and  the  actions  of  their  lifco 
There  is  in  it  a  series  of  legal  institutions,  such  as  we 
have  good  reason  to  think  no  legislator,  from  human 
wisdom,  would  have  thought  of  or  contrived;''  yet  in 
many  points  so  plain  a  schoolmaster  to  bring  those  to 
whom  they  were  given  unto  Christ;''  so  clearly  refer- 
ring to  things  that  were  to  come,  and  be  revealed,  as 
plainly  to  indicate,  that  there  was  more  than  human 
foresight  and  design  in  them. 

In  a  word,  in  both  Testaments  there  are  such  prophe- 
cies of  things  which  were  to  be,  and  of  some  which  are 


we  suffer  in  our  souls  departed.  But  others  philosophized,  that  when  this  life 
was  over,  they,  who  lived  well,  should  go  into  some  star,  such  as  they  had 
made  themselves  meet  to  live  in.  "  Qui  bene  et  honeste  curriculum  vivendi 
a  natura  datum  confecerit,  ad  illud  astrum,  cui  aptus  fuerit  revertetur :"  Cic. 
Lib.  de  Universo.  Which  state  was  not  supposed  to  be  absolutely  final;  for 
spirits  in  a  future  life,  they  believed,  might  iiave  a  progress  to  perfection,  and 
go  from  a  higher  state  to  higher,  until  they  arrived  at  their  supreme  good. 
Vide  Platon.  in  Phaedon.  in  Lib,  de  Legib.  &c  ;  and  some  allowed  the  body  a 
participation  herein  with  the  soul.  MeTitCo^)iy,  ts/c  te  3-u)[xaa-n  i/uotcoc  tsroinTi  tu4s 
'Ivictt? — {'»  /uiv  atv9g»?rv  ac  ipceAc  tK  Si  ipcecev  U;  J'cufxovcti  ai  /kxTiavH  ^o^a.i  tw  fxi- 
TO-QiKiiv  Ki/uiCxwa-ir  in  Si  SiUfA.c,itt)V  oAiycu  /uiv  W:  XP'^V  ^^^^f>  ^'  ^^etkc  Kctdcip^Sreia-cu 
7ra.yTa.7ra.a-t  S-soT/iTOf  /xiTiTXpy-  PKit.  Orac.  Defect.  How  different  from  all  these 
schemes  is  what  the  t^ospel  proposes  concerning  Christ  Jesfs  !  that  this  man. 
offered  one  sacrifice  for  snis  for  ever,  and  through  the  offering  of  his  body  once 
for  all,  will  perfect  for  ever  those  ivho  come  unto  God  through  /dm  .•  Heb.  x,  11, 
12,  14.  Whence  now  could  the  first  preachers  of  the  gospel  have  these 
things ;  no  wisdom  then  in  the  world  v/ould  have  suggested  any  such  doctrine 
to  them.  That  the  prophecies  indeed,  obscurely,  like  a  light  shining  in  a  dark 
place,  foretold  them,  is  true ;  that  their  Master,  beginning  from  Moses  and  all 
the  prophets,  had  expounded  unto  them  in  all  the  Scriptures,  the  tilings  concerning 
idmself  is  acknowledged ;  but  as  this  exposition  was  entirely  different  from  all 
that  the  rabbles  of  the  Jews  had  delivered,  and  all  their  doctors,  learned  in 
their  law  and  Scriptures,  contended  for;  that  these  things,  thus  hidden  from 
the  wise  and  prudent,  should  at  once  be  brought  to  light  by  babes,  be  preached 
uniformly  and  consistently  by  a  set  of  men,  who  had  no  human  learning;  and 
the  truth  of  them  be  attested,  by  the  author  of  them  visibly  raising  himself 
from  the  dead,  and  going  up  into  Heaven,  and  by  the  preachers  of  his  doctrine 
being  approved  of  God,  in  the  many  miracles  wrought  by  them  at  the  time  of 
their  preaching  this  gospel ;  these  things  must  put  it  out  of  all  doubt,  that 
this  doctrine  was  not  of  man,  but  of  God 

^  See  Connect,  vol.  iii,  b.  xii,  p.  207;  not  to  remark  both  of  sacrifices  of 
the  living  creatures,  see  vol.  i,  b,  i,  p.  52 ;  and  also  of  circumcision ;  that  it 
is  impossible  to  give  any  probable  or  reasonable  grounds  of  their  first  institu- 
tion, other  than  that  they  were  appointed  by  Go»» 

"  Gal.  iii,  24. 


40  INTRODUCTION. 

yet  to  come;  such  a  fulfilling  of  all  that  is  completed, 
and  thence  so  reasonable  an  assurance  that  there  shall 
be  a  performance  of  what  remains  to  be  fulfilled  in  its 
season  ;  as  must  give  every  considerate  reader,  whether 
learned  or  unlearned,  a  steady  belief,  better  grounded 
than  to  be  shaken  by  disputes  concerning  the  canon  of 
Scripture;  when  it  was  settled;  by  whom  these  or 
those  books  were  particularly  written :  or  what  errata 
have  crept  into  some  co])ies  in  some  texts.  In  all  these, 
and  many  other  disquisitions  of  a  like  nature,  which 
might  be  started,  we  may  find  that  the  Scriptures,  in 
being  committed  unto  men,  have  been  a  treasure  so  put 
into  earthen  vessels,  as  to  furnish  full  evidence,  that  the 
excellency  of  them  is  not  of  man ^  And  although  the 
miracles  done,  to  bear  testimony  to  their  contents,  were 
done  in  an  age  long  since  past,  so  that  we  may  carelessly 
overlook  them;  nevertheless,  we  shall  be  forced  to  allow, 
that  the  books  of  Scripture  are  such  as  could  not  have 
come  merely  from  man,  but  must  be  from  God. 

'•  See  2  Cor.  Iv,  7. 


SECTION  V. 


The.  Origin  and  Nature  of  Language,  S,'C. 

The  origin  and  progress  of  language  is  a  subject 
which  has  been  treated  by  many  writers.  The  learned 
seem  mostly  inclined  to  think,  that  God  put  into  the 
minds  of  our  first  parents  all  such  words,  and  a  know- 
ledge of  their  meaning,  Jis  might  be  necessary  for  their 
conversation  with  each  other.  They  represent,  that 
the  allowing  them  to  be  made  sociable  creatures,  im- 
plies necessarily,  that  they  were  in  actual  possession  of 
all  words  instantly  to  communicate  a  variety  of  senti- 
ments. But  I  confess  I  do  not  see  this  consequence  to 
be  a  necessary  one.  They  began  life,  I  apprehend, 
without  any  stock  of  actual  knowledge :  they  acquired 
it  gradually,  and  by  like  advances  came  to  think  of,  and 
form  words,  to  signify  wiiat  they  wanted  to  name,  and 
converse  upon.  The  allowing  them  to  be  able  to  do 
this,  as  early,  and  as  variously  as  they  wanted  it,  and  to 
improve  it,  as  fast  as  their  knowledge  increased ;  an- 
swers every  social  demand  we  can  suppose,  as  fully,  and 
more  naturally,  than  to  imagine  them  full  of  innate  words 
before  they  had  acquired  the  sentiments,  or  observation 
of  the  things,  which  were  to  be  intended  by  such  words. 
But  as  I  have  at  different  times  treated  this  subject,  I 
do  not  see  it  needful  now  to  add  any  thing  to  clear  it.^ 
As  to  the  opinion  of  some  writers,  that  our  first  parents' 
minds  were  filled  with  original  words,  which  expressed 
(what  they  could  not  otherwise  know)  the  very  nature 
of  things,  so  as  to  enable  them  to  speak,  and  thence  to 
think  philosophically  of  them  j   and  that  the  Hebrew 

a  Connect,  vol.  i,  b.  ii,  p.  84;    vol.  ii,  b,  ix ;    see  the  following  treatise, 
chapter  iii. 


42  INTRODUCTION. 

was  originally  a  language  of  this  sort — it  is  romantic  and 
irrational.  That  there  are  words  of  a  sound  correspond- 
ing to  what  the  ear  hears,  when  the  object  denoted  by 
them  is  presented  to  us,  is  unquestionable;  and  the  pro- 
per use  of  words  of  this  sort  is  thought  an  elegance  in 
many  writers.  It  is  remarked,  that  Virgil  has  thrown 
the  souiid  of  the  thing  he  writes  of,  sometiiyes  over  a 
whole  line ;  thus,  in  the  following  verse,  he  is  observed 
to  sound,  as  it  were,  the  trumpet  he  speaks  of, 

^re  ciere  viros  martcmque  accendere  cantu. 

ViRo.  JEn.  lib.  vi. 

And,  in  another  place,  to  express  the  very  beat  of  the 
horses'  feet  on  the  ground  where  he  supposes  them  to 
move, 

Quadrupcdante  putrem  sonltu  quatlt  ungula  campum. 

Id.  JEn.  lib.  viii. 

Homer's — noTia  ^T^icsSoio  ^aTuiaayjg  sounds  to  the  ear 
both  the  hollow  roar  of  the  rising  wave,  and  the  crash 
of  its  waters  breaking  upon  the  shore.  Single  words 
may  sometimes  affect  the  ear  in  like  manner.  The  He- 
brew word  ,11")  (ruach,)  which  signifies  wind,  may  seem 
to  sound  the  rushing  noise  made  by  that  element ;  and 
many  like  instances  might  be  collected  from  divers  lan- 
guages; but  will  any  one  say,  that  the  philosophical  na- 
ture of  the  things  thus  described  is  in  any  wise  indicated 
by  any  word,  part,  or  the  whole  of  any  such  descrip- 
tion? Words  are  but  sounds;  and  it  is  easy  to  conceive, 
how,  by  arbitrary  agreement,  different  sounds  may 
come  to  denote  such  things  as  are  intended  to  be  meant 
by  them ;  but  to  say  that  any  particular  sound  has  a 
hecessary  connection  or  relation  to  the  essence  or  nature 
of  one  particular  thing  more  than  another  is  a  confusion 
we  could  not  fall  into,  if  we  did  not  overlook  some  par- 
ticular in  the  train  of  thinking,  which  leads  us  into  it. 
Allowing  that  the  word  create  denotes  the  producing 
things  out  of  nothing;  Creator  may  signify  Him  who 
made  all  things,  and  is  God.  But  the  word  can  have 
no  such  reference  from  any  thing  in  the  nature  of  it ; 
except  merely  from  its  being  first  established,  that  to 
create  shall  be  the  sound  to  signify  this  act  of  making- 
things  to  exist.  From  such  known  designation,  K")3 
hara^  in  Hebrew ;  creavit  in  Latin ;  any  other  word  in 


INTRODUCTION.  43 

any  other  language  appointed  to  denote  the  exercise  of 
this  act  of  power,  shall  equally  have  this  signification ; 
and,  without  such  appointment,  no  one  sound  can  have 
it,  in  the  nature  of  things,  more  than  another.  The 
manner  in  which  Adam  and  Eve  were  brought  into  the 
world,  duly  considered,  will  lead  us  to  suitable  thoughts 
concerning  the  rise  and  improvement  of  their  language. 
If  it  could  be  conceived  that  they  instantly  talked  co- 
piously about  all  things,  before  time  and  experience  had 
taught  them  to  know  them;  there  would  be  reason  to 
think  that  they  had  words  for  such  conversation  not  of 
their  own  inventing.  But  Moses  hints  nothing  of  this 
nature;  nay,  the  very  contrary  appears  most  plainly 
throughout  his  narration.  Accordingly,  many  expres- 
sions occur  in  his  Hebrew  (of  which,  I  apprehend,  the 
following  words,  the  Lord  is  a  man  of  war,  may  be 
one  instance,)^  which  hint,  that,  in  the  most  early  times, 
the  expressions  used  had  their  rise,  not  from  any  innate 
sentiments  of  the  nature  of  things,  nor  from  innate 
words  concerning  them,  farther  than  what  men  had  felt, 
seen,  or  heard,  and  agreeably  thereto  conceived  and 
understood  of  them.  With  respect  to  such  words  as 
God  was  pleased  to  speak  to  our  first  parents  in  the  be- 
ginning of  their  lives ;  I  have  considered  what,  I  think, 
must  be  admitted  concerning  them.'  That  names,  formed 
from  words  agreed  to  signify  qualities  of  things,  may 
denote  the  nature  of  the  things  so  named,  so  far  as  to 
inform  us,  that  they  are  reputed  to  have  the  qualities 
expressed  by  the  words  which  are  given  as  names  to 
them,  may  reasonably  be  allowed. "^  If  I  know,  that 
JVabal  in  Hebrew  signifies  to  be  of  no  value  or  moment; 
I  may  possibly  conclude,  that  a  man  called  by  that  name 
is  one  of  that  character:''  but  had  any  other  word  than 


''  nnnSD  tt"N  niriM  Exod.  xv,  3.  I  may  say  of  this  expression,  as  also  of  an- 
other, which  occufs  later,  wherein  God  is  represented  like  a  mighty  man  thai 
shoittetii  by  reason  of  tvine,  Psal.  Ixxviii,  65,  that  neither  of  them  can  be  sup- 
posed to  express  any  thing  of  the  nature  of  the  power  of  God.  Rather,  human 
imagination,  struck  with  the  terror  of  a  man  of  war  coming  forth  armed  to 
battle  ;  or  of  the  terrible  fury  of  a  giant,  awakened,  and  refreshed  with  wine, 
furnished  the  ideas  which  occasioned  these  expressions.  Other  words,  very 
different,  would  have  been  used,  had  a  natural  description  of  the  tremendous 
power  of  God,  terrible  in  majesty,  infinitely  beyond  what  these  words  convev 
to  us,  been  at  all  intended 

«^  See  hereafter,  chap.  ii. 

'^  See  Connect,  vol.  ii,  b.  ix,  p.  244. 

'  1  Sam,  XXV,  25 ;  Connect,  ibid. 


44  INTRODUCTION. 

JSPabal  been  tlie  verb  to  signify  the  having  this  character, 
the  sound  jYabcil  might  have  conveyed  a  very  different 
idea  to  me.  It  is  the  same  respecting  all  other  circum- 
stances of  things,  which  their  names  can  hint  to  us.  It 
tei'ra  be  the  allowed  word  to  signify  earthy  the  saying 
that  a  person  is  terrestris,  may  denote  that  he  is  earthy, 
but  had  the  first  agreed  idea  annexed  to  terra,  been 
what  we  call  heaven,  it  is  evident  that  nothing  in  nature 
would  have  prevented  terre^tris  from  having  a  significa- 
tion opposite  to  what  is  now  understood  by  it.  What  a 
learned  writer  very  clearly  thought  upon  this  subject, 
he  has  expressed  as  intelligibly.  ^'  There  is,-'  he  says, 
''  between  sounds  and  things  no  relation  :*"  words  signify 
things,  from  no  other  than  the  arbitrary  agreement  of 
men:  it  is  evident  that  language  is  not  natural,  but  in- 
stituted :" — •'  that  the  human  organs  being  admirably 
fitted  for  the  formation  of  articulate  sounds ;  these,  with 
the  help  of  reason,  might  in  time  lead  men  to  the  use 
of  language — ;  I  own  it  is  imaginable  that  they  might."^ 
The  judicious  author,  I  think,  after  all  this,  would  not 
have  imagined,  that,  without  an  inspiration  of  language 
from  God,  mankind  might  have  lived  a  series  of  genera- 
tions without  having  a  sufficient  use  of  it,  if  he  had 
happened  to  consider  the  steps  and  gradual  progress  in 
which  Moses  represents  our  first  parents  coming  into 
their  knowledge  of  themselves  and  the  world."' 

The  reader  will  find  in  the  following  sheets,  that  I 
have  had  great  assistance  from  Mr.  Pope's  very  excel- 
lent Essay  upon  Man.  The  poet  himself  confesses,  that 
he  could  not  have  expressed  his  thoughts  with  that  force 
and  conciseness  in  prose,  as  he  could  in  verse.'  With 
respect  to  myself,  I  am  sure,  that  I  should  have  de- 
prived the  reader  of  a  pleasure,  and  the  subject  of  an 
advantage,  had  I  used  only  my  own  language :  what 

I  oft  had  thought 

would  have  come  far  short  of  being 

so  ~,vell  expressed  ; 

I  wish  I  could  have  had  the  like  assistance  of  this  powei- 


f  See  Revelation  examined  with  Candour,  vol.  i,  p.  52- 
e  Ibid  p.  53.  ''  Ibid.  p.  61—67. 

'  See  what  the  author  says  in  the  design  of  the  poem. 


INTRODUCTION.  45 

ftil  pen  for  some  other  sentiments,  which  I  have  endea- 
voured to  defend  ;  but  in  these  I  have  ventured  to  de- 
sert the  poet,  thinking  that  he  has  some  hues,  which 
require  correction.  Speaking  of  the  primseval  state  of 
mankind,  he  seems  to  represent  that  their  only  guidance 
had  been  the  light  of  nature.     He  says, 

The  state  of  nature  was  the  reign  of  God.^ 

He  in  nowise  supposes  that  man,  in  his  first  estate,  be- 
gan his  being  under  the  especial  direction  of  a  revela- 
tion; but,  rather,  that 

To  copy  instinct  then  was  reason's  part.' 

And  he  sends  our  early  progenitors  to  learn  arts  and 
sciences  from  the  animal  world,  sooner  than  we  can  think 
the  animal  world  could  be  so  considered  as  to  afford 
them  this  knowledge."'  In  like  manner,  he  appears  to 
think,  that  sacrifices  of  the  living  creatures  were  not 
offered  in  the  first  .times.  He  represents,  that  ^^  the 
shrine"  was  ^'  with  gore  unstained,""  that  '^  unbloody 
stood  the  harmless  priest.""  He  has  these  and  some 
other  sentiments  in  the  third  epistle,  which,  to  me^  do 


•«  Pope's  Essay  on  Man,  Ep.  iii,  ver.  147. 

»  Ibid.  ver.  171. 

">  Solomon,  indeed,  bids  his  sluggard  go  to  the  lait,  consider  her  ivaiis,  and 
be  loise,  Prov.  vi,  6.  And  it  is  natural  to  think,  that  Solomon,  who  had  searched 
deep  into  nature  (see  1  Kings  iv,  33,)  should  ofler  this  instruction.  But  to 
think  that  mankind  had  not  sought  out  many  inventions  ;  but  were  without 
work,  device,  and  contrivance  of  their  own,  until  they  had  observed  the  in- 
stinct of  the  creatures,  is  extremely  Improbable.  That  lie,  who  "  primus  per 
artem  movit  agros"  (Virgil ;)  "  learned  of  the  mole  to  plough"  (Pope's  Essay, 
ver.  178  ;)  or  that  Cam  formed  the  plan  or  building  of  his  city,  Enoch  (Gen. 
iv,  17,)  from  any  observations  of  the  bee,  her  little  cells,  lodgments,  and 
structures,  is  a  wild  imagination  :  and,  1  dare  say,  had  Solomon  had  no  ships 
to  send  to  Ophir,  until  men  had  learned 

of  the  little  Nautilus  to  sail. 
Spread  the  thin  oar,  and  catch  the  driving  gale, 

Pope's  Essay,  ver.  179. 

he  would  have  brought  no  gold  to  Jerusalem.  Men  had  invented  a  great  many 
arts  of  their  own,  before  tht-y  could  observe  what,  in  anywise,  corresponded 
with  them  in  the  creatures  :  though  we  may,  perhaps,  well  allow,  that  when 
they  thus  came  to  look  from  themselves  to  the  creatures,  reflections  might 
arise  to  teach  them  to  correct  art  by  nature,  and  to  add  to  their  own  inven- 
tions a  regularity  and  improvement  which  otherwise  they  might  not  have 
thought  of. 

"  Pope's  Essay,  ver.  157. 

°  Ver.  158. 

Vol.  IV.  (:- 


46  inthoduction. 

not  seem  entirely  to  accord  with  other  parts  of  his  poera. 
If  I  might  guess  from  one  maxim  hinted, 

—  go,  and  thus  o'er  all  the  creatures  sway, 
Thus  let  the  wiser  make  the  rest  obey  -.f 

he  seems  to  suppose,  that  a  superior  understanding 
gives  a  right  of  dominion ;  a  thought  diffused  so  hirgely 
in  the  imagination**  of  his  admired  statesman,  whom 
he  styles 

His  friend,  his  genius 

Master  of  the  poet,  and  tlie  song, 

Pope's  Essay,  Ep,  iv,  ver.  363. 

that  I  should  think,  much  of  what  we  find  from  abouf 
the  147th  line  of  the  third  epistle,  to  the  216th.  was 
written  upon  anecdotes  given  to  the  poet,  and  in  re- 
spect to  him,  who  gave  them,  well  ornamented;  but  they 
have  not  that  firmness  and  stability,  which  can  be  given 
to  nothing  but  what  is  true.     It  would  be  going  abso- 

P  Ver.  195,  196.  • 

>3  Lord  Bolingbroke  hints  to  us,  that  "the  author  of  nature  has  mingled 
among  the  societies  of  men,  a  few,  and  but  a  few  of  those,  on  whom  he  is  gra- 
ciously pleased  to  bestow  a  larger  proportion  of  the  ethereal  spirit,  than  is 
given  in  the  ordinary  course  of  his  providence  to  the  sons  of  men.  These  are 
they,  who  engross  almost  the  whole  reason  of  the  species;  who  are  born  to 
instruct,  to  guide,  and  to  preserve;  who  are  designed  to  be  the  tutors  and  the 
guardians  of  human  kind."  See  Letter  on  the  Spirit  of  Patriotism,  p.  10.  1 
am  at  a  loss  what  to  say  of  this  random  sentiment.  It  seems  to  me  to  want 
more  explication,  and  the  application  of  it  to  be  guarded  and  regulated,  be- 
yond what  one  would  expect  of  any  thing  said  by  a  wise  man.  If  the  ethereal 
genii  of  the  age  happen  in  any  country  not  to  have  either  the  reins  of  govern- 
ment, nor  the  chair,  seat,  or  bench,  to  guide,  direct,  and  give  law  to  mankind; 
and,  surely,  many  of  them  often  have  not ;  and  I  can  ajjprehend  it  sometimes 
for  the  good  of  the  world  that  they  have  not ;  there  is  a  far  more  useful  prii> 
ciple  to  be  thought  of,  than  that  these  wise  should  try  to  make  the  rest  obey; 
namely,  that  every  one  should  study  to  be  quiet,  iind  mind  his  own  business,  in 
the  duties  of  that  station  in  life  which  happens  to  belong  to  him.  It  must  un- 
doubtedly be  a  great  blessing  to  the  world,  when  those,  who  have  the  power 
over  others,  are  the  truly  wise ;  but  the  happiness  of  mankind  can  never  have 
any  permanency,  unless  those,  who  cannot  attain  what  they  happen  to  think 
their  genius  most  fit  for,  know  how  to  govern  themselves  wisely,  and  be  pat- 
terns to  others  to  teach  them  the  same  thing.  These  ethereal  gentlemen,  act- 
ing otherwise,  have  often  occasioned  great  convulsions  in  the  world  :  and  many 
times,  when  they  get  that  power  tor  which  they  strive,  and  make  the  rest  obey, 
■they  are  neither  the  public  blessing  they  think,  nor  perhaps  do  they  pertbrni 
any  great  and  real  good  even  to  themselves.  Our  author's  sentiment  seems  no 
better,  than  a  not  well  digested  refinement  of  a  notion  found  amongst  the  hea- 
then disputants;  vi:.  that  mankind  are  born,  some  with  endowments  to  rule 
and  govern,  others  with  capacities  fit  for  servitude  only  :  that  where  the  ru- 
lers of  states  find  such,  a';,  though  born  for  servitude,  will  not  submit  to  it ;  a 
war  upon  these  is  hut  a  lawful  hunting,  to  take  men,  as  we  do  by  a  like  exer- 
cise, the  beasts  of  the  field,  to  sort  and  reduce  them  to  their  proper  applica- 
tion. Nimrod  was  perhaps  a  mighty  hunter  of  this  sort,  and  hereby  raised 
himself  to  a  kingdom.  Gen.  x,  9.  Rut  how  far  any  thing  of  this  nature  can  he^ 
•.jseful  or  right,  I  shall  submit  to  fjirther  consideration. 


INTRODUCTION.  47 

lutely  from  the  subject^  in  which  I  am  engaged,  to  ex- 
amine all  Mr.  Pope's  positions,  which  might  be  here 
stated.  One  of  them,  indeed,  I  am  more  particularly 
concerned  in,  namely,  the  Origin  of  Sacrifices.  I  have 
supposed  that  sacrifices  of  the  living  creatures  had  been 
appointed  from  the  time  of  our  first  parents'  transgres- 
sion ;  and  what  I  have  offered  upon  this  topic  has  been 
replied  to  at  large.  I  hope  I  shall  not  misspend  a  few 
pages,  if  I  endeavour  to  clear  this  matter. 


SECTION   VI. 


The  Origin  and  Use  of  Sacrifices. —  The  Nature  and  De- 
sign of  that  Sacrifice  offered  by  Abel. — jipology  for  the 
Mistakes  into  which  the  Jluthor  may  have  fallen  in  this 
Work,  or  in  his  Connection. 

It  is  argued,  that  sacrifices  of  the  living  creatures 
were  not  made  in  the  most  early  ages :  tliat  they  did 
not  commence  until  after  mankind  had  eaten  flesh:  that 
we  need  not  imagine  they  had  their  rise  from  a  positive 
command  of  God;  for,  from  the  weakness  in  human 
iiature,  we  may  suppose,  that  mankind  might  invent 
this  service,  v;ithout  any  command  enjoining  the  use  of 
it.  All  these  points  have  been  treated  by  a  very  inge- 
nious writer;''  an  answer  to  whom  will,  I  hope,  be  a 
sullicient  reply  to  all  that  can  be  objected  upon  this 
topic.  And  my  answer  hereto  is,  that  Abel,  unques- 
tionably, ofTered  a  sacrifice  of  an  animal  or  living  crea- 
ture :  that  he  did  it  in  obedience  to  a  command  of  God; 
and,  consequently,  that  the  origin  of  this  institution  was 
not  of  human  contrivance. 

I.  Abel,  I  say,  offered  a  sacrifice  of  a  living  creature: 
Ahelf  Moses  tells  us,  brouii;ht  of  the  firstlings  of  his 
flock,  and  of  the  fat  thereof.^  This  offering  was  made 
befoie  the  130th  year  of  the  world, "=  and  is  indeed  the 
first  sacrifice  which  the  Scripture  mentions.  That  Abel's 
was  a  sacrifice  of  a  living  creature,  may,  I  think,  be 
proved,  both  from  Moses's  express  account  of  it,  and 


»  See  Philemon  to  Ilydaspes,  letter  v.  h  Gen,  iv,  4, 

•"  Adam  was  but  one  hundred  and  tliirty  ^^•hcn  Seth  was  born,  after  Abel 
was  killed,  Gen.  v.  3. 


INTRODUCTION.  49 

irom  what  is  said  upon  it  by  the  author  of  the  Epistle 
to  the  Hebrews. 

Moses's  account  begins  with  the  offering  of  Cain :  * 
Cain  brought  of  the  fruit  of  the  ground  an  offering 
unto  the  Lord.'^  It  is  plain,  that  nothing  animate  was 
intended  in  Cain's  oblation :  it  was  an  offering  of  corn 
or  herbs,  the  produce  of  the  ground,  and  of  nothing  more. 
And  it  will  be  observed,  that  it  is  accordingly  called 
minchah;^  the  word  often  used  for  a  meat-oflfering  or 
oblation  of  things  inanimate,  in  distinction  to  the  sacri- 
fice of  a  living  creature/  But  Abel  brought  of  the 
firstlings  of  his  flock,  and  the  fat  thereof:  the  words 
which  follow  are  to  be  observed  :  and  the  Lord  had  re- 
spect unto  Abel,  and  to  his  offering  :^  the  text  says, 
7'e  oel  minchatho'?'  so  that  the  word  tninchah  is  here 
also  used,  to  speak  of  Abel's  offering,  as  it  was  of  Cain's. 
Wherein  then  did  they  differ?  or  why  should  we  think 
that  Abel's  offering  was  a  sacrifice  of  a  living  creature, 
when  it  is  thus  hinted  to  be  a  minchah  ?  The  learned 
are  herein  very  diligent  to  exert  themselves.  Grotius 
observes,  that  the  word  we  render  the  fat  thereof'  may 
signify  the  milk  thereof  and  thinks,  that  Abel  did  not 
sacrifice  a  lamb ;  but,  perhaps,  only  some  wool  and 
cream,  of  the  lactage,  and  growth  of  the  firstlings  of 
his  fiock.^  I  answer,  learned  men  will  seem  to  say  some- 
thing for  any  singularity  they  have  a  mind  to  support ; 
and  Grotius  is  remarkable  in  this  particular.  But  it  is 
observable,  that  he  lays  the  stress  of  what  he  would 
argue,  upon  explaining  a  word  not  material  to  the  ar- 
gument ;  but  says  nothing  upon  some  other  words,  on 
which  the  true  meaning  of  the  place  most  absolutely 
turns.  The  word,  which  we  translate /«/,  may  signify 
milk,  or  must  be  rendered /cr/,  as  tlie  sense  and  context, 
when  it  is  used,  require  ;  but  the  words  here  to  be  pi  in- 
cipally  considered  are,  of  the  firstlings  of  his  fiock.^ 
The  firstling  or  firstlings  of  beasts,  of  cuttle,  of  the 
herd,  or  of  the  fiock,  are  expressions  very  common  in 

•^  Gen.  iv,  3. 

f  See  Levit.  ii,   l,  4,  5,  15 ;  vii,  9,  10 ;  xlv,  10 ;  xxx,  16 ;  Numb,  xv,  3 — 6  ; 
xxviii,  5,  et  sexcent.  ai.  in  loc. 

?  Gen.  iv,  4.  i>  The  Hebrew  words  are  inmn-SNi. 

'  Aiinot.  in  loc. 

•<  Grotius  observes,  that  these  had  been  thought  very  ancient  sacrifices  by 
'he  heathen  writers.    Ibid. 
'3!«j  nnsjB.    Gen.  iv,  4. 


50  INTRODUCTION. 

Moses;'"  and  the  question  is,  whether,  wherever  he 
speaks  of  an  offerini^  of  firstlings,  he  means  any  thing 
but  an  ofTering  of  the  living  creatures  so  called?  Whe- 
ther, in  Moses's  language,  had  Abel  offered  only  wool, 
and  milk  or  creatn,  the  expression  must  not  have  been, 
he  brought  of  thet^oo/,  milk,  or  cream,  of  the  firstlings 
of  his  flock  an  offering  to  the  Lord?  And,  whether, 
supposing  the  word  which  we  render  fat,  may  signify 
milk,  the  words  of  Moses  here  used,  he  brought  of  the 
firstlings  of  his  flock,  and  the  milk  thereof,  would  not 
have  denoted,  that  he  brought  both  the  living  creatures, 
and  their  milk  too?  But  a  farther  question  is,  whether 
firstlings  were  ever  reckoned,  except  by  the  males 
only?"  If  they  were  reckoned  thus  only,  our  learned 
annotators  mistake  most  ridiculously.  Abel,  I  appre- 
hend, brought  of  his  young  rams  unto  the  Lord  ;  and 
the  lactage  of  his  rams :  our  learned  disputants  would 
be  as  well  fed  as  they  would  teach  us,  if  they  had 
nothing  else  to  eat,  till  they  gave  up  this  absurdity.  In 
a  word,  Moses's  expression  can  in  nowise  signify  any 
thing  else,  but  that  Abel  brought  a  living  animal  of  his 
flock  an  offering  unto  the  Lord.     For, 

With  respect  to  Abel's  offering  being  called  a  min- 
chah,  it  is  easy  to  be  accounted  for.  The  word  minchah 
is,  indeed,  often  used  sacrificially  to  denote  an  inatii- 
mate  offering,  in  opposition  to  the  sacrifice  of  a  living 
creature;  but  it  has  likewise  a  more  general  acceptation. 
It  is  the  word  used  of  Jacob's  present  to  his  brother 
Esau  ;°  and,  again,  for  the  present  sent  out  of  Canaan 
to  Joseph. I'  It  is  well  translated,  when  used  in  this 
sense,  by  the  Greek  word  iSs^eov,  a  gift :  the  apostle 
thus  renders  it  r**  in  this  general  sense  it  is,  and  may  be 
used  of  all  sacrifices  both  animate  and  inanimate;  for 
every  sacrifice  is,  in  this  sense,  a  minchah,  Ai^pv,  a 
gift,  or  present  un\.o  the  Lord;  though  every  minchah, 
or  gift,  is  not  a  sacrifice  of  a  living  creature.* 


">  Lev.  xxvii,  26;  Numb,  xviii,  15;  Deut.  xv,  19;  Numb,  ili,  41;  Deut 
xii,  6 ;  XIV,  23,  &.c, 

■•  See  Exod   xni,  12.  °  Gen.  xxxii,  13,  19. 

P  Chap,  xliii,  11.  ')  Heb.  xi,  4,  tTri  tok  Sufw  iwrn. 

*  Tlie  trutli  IS,  Abel  made  two  ofierintrs  to  the  Lord,  at  the  same  time. 
One  was  the  minchuli,  or  thanksgiving  otternig',  by  which  lie  acknowledged 
God  as  the  Creator  and  Preserver.  The  other  was  an  animal  for  a  sin  offering, 
by  which  he  acknowledged  his  smful  state,  tlie  need  he  had  of  an  expiatory 
victim,  and  hisy«/;/!  in  the  coming  Redeemer.  Hence  tlic  apostle  says,  Met, 
by  faith,  offered  a  more  excellent  sacrifice  than  Cairn  and  Goo  teslifed  of  /tif: 


INTKODUCTIOK.  51 

Having  thus  far  shown,  that  Moses  must  be  under- 
stood as  expressing  AbeFs  offering  to  be  of  a  living 
creature;  I  come  now  to  consider,  that  the  apostle 
plainly  tells  us,  that  this  was  his  meaning.  The  writer 
of  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews  tells  us,  that  Abel's  offer- 
ing was  ^vaia,  i.  e.  the  oblation  of  a  creature  slain/  I 
laid  great  stress  upon  the  inspired  writer's  using  this 
term."  I  am  answered,  that  it  is  notorious,  that  the 
word  ^vCia  is  several  times  used  in  Scripture  for  an  m- 
animate  oblation.  And  the  ingenious  writer,  above 
mentioned,  cites,  for  his  assertion.  Lev.  ii,  1.^  Un- 
doubtedly he  might  have  cited  many  other  passages.  His 
mistake  is,  in  citing  the  Septuagint  translation  for  Scrip- 
ture; not  considering  that  these  translators,  not  being  in- 
fallible, might  err  in  their  translation.  The  translators  of 
the  Septuagint  were  extremely  careless  in  their  use  of  this 
word.  They  render  the  third  verse  of  the  fourth  chap- 
ter of  Genesis,  'nvsyxev  ^aiv  arto  tav  xapTtidv  ryjg  yyjg 
^vaiav  t<o  Kupto.  Here  they  call  Cain's  offering,  which 
is  described  and  allowed  to  be  of  the  fruits  of  the  ground 
only,  "^vaiav,  a  sacrifice  or  mactation.  But  then  it  is  to 
be  remarked,  that  the  apostle  herein  particularly  cor- 
rects them,  removes  the  word  ^vaiav,  misapplied  by 
them,  and  uses  it  of  Abel's  sacrifice  only,  and  not  of 
Cain's  offering."*  The  inspired  writers  of  the  New  Tes- 


gifts.  Ton  S'ctfw'  i.  e,  both  the  minchah  and  sin  offering.  Cain,  not  having  falt?i 
in  the  coming  Saviour,  acted  simply  as  a  Deist,  and  offered  only  the  minchah. 
OP  thank  offering,  to  God,  without  either  a  consciousness  of  sin,  or  faith  in  the 
promised  atonement ;  therefore  his  offering  was  not  accepted.  Dr  Kennicott 
has  handled  this  subject  in  a  masterly  manner,  in  a  work,  intitled.  Two  Dis- 
sertations, 1.  On  the  Tree  of  Life;  2.  On  the  Oblations  of  Cain  and  Abel,  8vo. 
Oxon.  1747,  to  which  I  beg  leave  to  refer  the  reader.     Edit. 

f  ^vTi-xv  'aCsa  TrponviyKS,  Heb.  xi,  4;  I  might,  I  think,  here  observe,  that  the 
apostle  elsewhere  expressly  calls  Abel's  offering  a?j  offering  of  blood.  Alluding 
to  the  blood  of  Christ,  by  w  hose  death  we  have  the  forgiveness  of  sins,  he 
iiays,  ?/e  are  come         to  the  blood  of  sprinkling,  luhich  speaketh  better  things  than 

that  of  Abel,  Heb.  xii,  24; that  of  Mel;  he  does  not  mean  Abel's  blood, 

or  the  blood  shed  by  the  death  of  Abel ;  for  Abel's  death  was  no  sacrifice  for 
sin ;  but  the  blood  which  Abel  offered  in  his  ^ua-in.,  or  sacrifice,  though  ac- 
cepted by  God,  as  he  had  commanded  it,  was  but  a  shadow  in  comparison  ol 
the  sacrifice  of  Christ. 

^  See  Connect,  vol.  i,  book  ii,  p.  73. 

c  Phil,  to  Hydasp.  Letter  v,  p.  32. 

"  I  would  take  away  all  possible  ambiguity,  tliat  can  be  supposed  in  the 
apostle's  expression;  and  would,  therefore,  observe,  that  should  any  one 
imagine  that  the  apostle's  words  are  elliptical,  that  the  words  may  be  taken, 
by  faith  Abel  offered  a  more  excellent  sacrifce  than  Cain^s,  i.  e.  sacrifice  :  that 
the  word  S'uo-zav  may  as  well  be  understood  at  the  end  oi  the  period,  as  inserted 
in  the  beginning.  I  answer,  it  is  impossible  so  to  construe  the  apostle,  his 
words  being,  'o-igru  'stkuova  ^u^tuv  'A&\  vsLfA  Kaiv  -zp/scs-^vs^.ks  Were  this  the 
meaning,  it  should  be  ^af a  m  JHouv  but  we  say,  o  more  excellent  sacrifice  -, 


52  iXTROUUCTION. 

lament  are  known  generally  to  cite  the  Old  Testameul, 
according  to  the  Septiiagint  version :  and  where  they 
do  so,  it  is  evident  they  did  not  think  the  expression 
importantly  faulty.  But  when,  in  any  particular  pas- 
sage, an  apostle  thus  remarkably  varies  and  corrects  the 
diction  of  the  Septuagint,  ought  we  not  to  think  he 
observed  an  impropriety,  and  designed  to  amend  it? 
SvGia  is  in  many  places  of  the  Septuagint  version  used 
to  signify  inanimate  offerings;  but  the  Septuagint  were 
not  inspired  writers,  and  therefore  ought  to  stand  cor- 
rected by  those  who  were.  The  word  ^vaia  occurs  fre- 
quently in  the  New  Testament.  But  although,  after 
the  legal  sacrifices  of  the  Old  Testament  were  done 
away,  the  sacred  writers  of  the  New  adopted  the  word 
^vaia^  using  it  in  a  spiritual  sense,  to  express  the  making 
our  bodies  a  living  sacrifice:^'  to  represent  our  charity 
as  being  a  sacrifice  acceptable  unto  God;"  to  exhort  to 
offer  the  sacrifice  of  praise,^'  4'C.  I  say,  although,  after 
animal  sacrifices  had  ceased,  the  one  real  sacrifice  being 
offered,  which  alone  could  take  away  sin,^  inspired  wri- 
ters did  use  the  word  ^rcrta  in  a  spiritual  sense,  to  sig- 
nify our  giving  ourselves  up  to  perform  many  of  the 
commanded  duties  of  the  Christian  religion,  sacrificing 
ourselves  in  them  truly  to  serve  God  i7i  spirit  and  in 
truth;  yet,  I  think,  tiiey  did  not  use  the  term  %vaLa  of 
any  sacrifices  of  the  Old  Testament,  but  of  such  only, 
W'herein  there  was  the  shedding  of  blood;*  preserving 


where  do  we -find  5TXS/ova  to  signify  more  excellent?  Tldngs  that  are  more  excel- 
lent, are  called  t*  tftajspovTci,  llom.  ii,  18;  I'hil.  i,  10.  ^  tnore  excellent  luay  is, 
y.u^' vTnpSoKm  cSiv,  1  Gor.  xli,  31-  A  more  excellent  72ame  is,  S'laipopceTifiov  wo/uoi, 
H>^b.  \,  4;  and  a  more  excellent  ministry  is,  Jt-xtp^gmnpsif  Kitrnpytn;,  Heb.  viii,  6. 
Bui  'srKUwv  signifies  more  umplior,  says  Stephens,  Concord  Gi  xco.  Lat.  Nov. 
Testaiii.  And  to  its  here  having  this  signification  agrees  what  follows :  Abel 
brought  d-uTtiv  TTXiiov^  Ttupa.  K:t;v.  The  preposition  era/)*  is  used  in  the  Xew 
Testament  to  signify  prceter,  besides,  more  than,  over  and  above.  Thus  St.  Paul, 
guarding  the  Galatians  against  receiving  the  observances  of  the  Jewisii  law,  su- 
peradded to  the  Cliristian  religion,  most  solemnly  warns  them,  not  to  receive  any 
thing  that  sliould  be  preached  to  them,  wajo'  d  u/iiyyiKio'afjiiiu.,  or  rra/i'  J  TrapuKuStTi, 
Gal.  i,  8,9.  They  were  to  receive  no  doctrines,  as  gospel,  more  than,  over  and  above, 
what  St.Paul  had  preached  to  them.  And  thus  Abel's  d'jo-iA:'  was  ir?.ui\:i^stfst,  Ksuv. 
Cain  had  offered  only  inanimate  gifts:  Abel  had  ottered  these  also;  for  these 
often  accompanied  the  burnt  offering:  but  Abel's  ^o-ia  was  something  over 
and  besides  tiiese,  it  was  the  mactation  of  an  animal.  And  in  the  not  having 
this  added,  Cain  came  short  of  what  ought  to  have  been  done  bv  liim. 

w  Rom.  xii,  1.  "   Phil,  iv,  18. 

y  Heb.  xiii,  15.  ^   See  Heb.  x. 

»  See  Matt,  ix,  13;  xii,  7;  Luke  ii,  24;  xiii,  1;  Acts  vii,  41,  42;  1  Cor. 
K,  18 ;  Heb.  v,  1 ;  vii,  27;  viii,  3 ;  ix,  9,  &c.  1  know  but  one  place  in  the  New 
Testament,  where  S-ya-/*  may  seem  to  be  used  of  an  inanimate  offering  of  the 
lawi  where  our  Saviour  sr>vs  eveni  racrifcr  (rxyg   ^jTit,  are  the  words  of  thf" 


INTRODUCTION.  o3 

it  an  allowed  truth  of  all  revealed  religion  from  the  be- 
ginning of  the  worldj  that  without  shedding  of  blood 
there  had  been  no  declared  7'emission  of  sin. 

II.  The  second  point  I  am  to  consider  is,  that  Abel's 
offering  his  sacrifice  was  in  obedience  to  some  divine 
command,  some  explicit  injunction  given  by  God.  And, 
I  confess,  that  to  me  a  most  unanswerable  argument  that 
it  was  so,  is  Abel's  being  said  by  the  apostle,  to  have 
made  his  offering  by  faiths  Heb.  xi.  I  have  already 
argued,  that  the  faith,  concerning  -which  the  apostle 
wrote  this  chapter,  supposes  in  all  the  instances  he  gives 
some  express  declaration  or  direction  from  God,  the  be- 
lieving and  paying  obedience  to  which  is  the  faith  set 
forth  and  recommended  to  us.^  I  have  shown  that  this 
was  the  fact  in  the  case  of  Rahab,  when  she  entertained 
the  spies  at  Jericho.*"  My  ingenious  adversary  thinks 
otherwise;''  but  with  how  little  reason,  I  must  entirely 
submit  to  the  reader's  impartial  consideration.  He 
would  argue  about  Enoch,  as  he  reasons  about  Rahab.'' 
He  supposes  that  Enoch  obtained  his  translation  to 
Heaven,  not  upon  account  of  his  receiving  and  believing 
any  particular  declaration  by  an  express  revelation  from 
God,  but  upon  account  of  the  general  tenor  and  conduct 
of  his  life;  that  he  was  a  man  of  eminent  virtue,  faith- 
fully attached  to  perfect  holiness  in  the  fear  of  God,  as- 
suring himself,  that  he  should  have  a  reward  for  thus 
doing.  I  answer,  had  the  hopes  of  Enoch  been  only 
the  general  and  rational  expectations  arising  from  a 
moral  life;  he  had  not  been  herein  in  any  wise  above 
others  eminent  for  faith,  which  is  not  an  act  of  mind 
paying  regard  to  arguments  arising  from  considering 
what  may  appear  intrinsically,  without  external  testi- 
mony, to  be  in  reason  true;  but  faith  cometh  by  hear- 
ing :^  faith  is  the  believing  something  that  is  testified 

Evangelist,)  shall  be  salted  ~.dth  salt,  Mark  ix,  49.  The  law  here  referred  to, 
is  Levit  ii,  13,  which  may  be  thought  to  be  the  law  oftlie  meat  oflering'.  But 
I  would  observe,  that  the  text  in  Leviticus  first  provides,  that  the  meat  offer- 
ing, which  was  indeed  inanimate,  should  be  salted.  But  having  ordered  tliis, 
it  adds  farther,  viith  all  thy  offerings  thou  shuit  offer  salt.  The  word  for  thine 
offerings  is  ijanp,  a  word  used  of  a  sacrifice  of  an  animal.  Numb,  xxviii,  2,  as 
rronan  ]3ip>,  Levit.  i,  2.  So  that  the  text  provides,  first,  that  all  offerings  in- 
animate shall  be  salted;  and  then  farther,  that  salt  shall  be  also  used  in  all  sa- 
crifices ;  and  the  word  ^ua-iu.  is  used  by  St.  Mark,  referring  to  the  law  given  in 
the  latter  part  of  the  verse, 

b  Connect  vol.  i,  book  ii,  p.  75.  ^  Id.  vol.  iii,  book  xii,  p.  214 

«»  See  Phil,  to  Hvdasp.  Letter  v,  p.  39.  «  Id.  ibid. 

♦'  Rom,  X,  17. 

Vol.  IV.  H 


54  INTIlODUeTlOX. 

or  declared  to  us.^  Accordingly,  the  author  of  Eccle- 
siasticus,  who  observes,  concerning  Enocli,  that  he 
pleased  God  and  icas  translated,  does  not  ascribe  his 
being  translated  to  his  being  more  and  above  others  a 
man  of  a  rigliteoiis  or  moral  life;  but  tells  us  he  was 
made  aii  example  of  repentance  unto  all  genej^tions.^ 
We  should  perfectly  understand  what  is  here  suggested, 
if  we  may  say  a  special  revelation  was  made  to  Enoch, 
that  men  should  have  life  for  ever  in  another  world,  if 
they  sought  it  believing,  through  his  name,  by  repent- 
ance, to  receive  remission  of  sins}  If  Enoch  embraced 
and  testified  unto  others  this  faith,  and  it  pleased  God 
to  confirm  unto  the  world,  that  what  he  had  declared  by 
Enoch,  was  true;  by  granting  to  Enoch  not  to  die  and 
fall  like  other  men,  but,  without  tasting  death,  to  be 
received  to  the  life  to  come  which  was  published,  and 
by  him  believed,  and  declared  according  to  the  word  of 
God,  made  known  to  him;  herein  we  show  that  Enoch 
has  been  literally,  according  to  the  words  of  the  author 
of  Ecclesiasticus,  set  forth  an  example  of  repentance 
iinto  all  generations:  and  as  clearly  according  to  the 
full  meaning  of  the  apostle's  expression,  by  faith,  be- 
lieving and  doing  according  to  what  had  been  especially 
revealed  to  liini,  was  translated  that  he  should  not  see 
death. ^ 

There  is  no  point  upon  which  many  able  and  very  learn- 
ed writers  appear  more  fondly  mistaken  than  in  not  truly 
stating  the  doctrine  o^  faith,  according  to  the  Scriptures. 
It  is  a  favourite  notion  with  them  to  divide  the  states  in 
which  mankind  have  been,  into  that  of  natural  religion, 
and  that  of  the  gospel.  They  call  the  state  of  creation 
or  natural  religion,  the  dispensation  of  the  Father: 
the  state  of  the  gospel,  the  dispensation  of  the  Son  of 
God;  and  they  argue,  that  the  former,  natural  religion, 
is  a  necessary  preparation  for  the  latter.'  But  herein 
they  certainly  introduce  a  language  very  difi'erent  from 
the  Scriptures.  To  come  unto  God,  to  seek  God,  to 
loalk  with  God  ;  all  these,  and  other  like  expressions, 
in  their  Scripture  meaning,  signify,  to  accede  to  that 
law  which  vs.  from  God's  mouth,  to  lay  up  his  icords  in 


g  Vide  qux  sup.  '■  Ecclus.  xliv,  16. 

'•  See  Acts  x,  43.  ''  Heb.  xi,  5. 

1  'I'he  reader  may  see  this  way  of  tliink'mg  fully  stated  by  the  late  Dr. 
Samuel  Clarke,  Sennon  i . 


INTRODUCTION.  55 

our  hearts  ;  to  live  according  to  what  God  has  revealed 
and  commanded;"'  the  fearwg  God,  and  working  righ- 
teoiisness  according  to  what  is  called  natural  light,  is 
not  what  is  in  Scripture  designed  by  those  expressions. 
In  like  manner,  the  dispensation  of  the  Father^  in  con- 
tradistinction to  the  dispensation  of  the  Son,  must  be 
the  revelation  of  the  Old  Testament,  as  distinguished 
from  the  revelation  in  the  New.  Our  blessed  Saviours 
exhortation  to  his  disciples  was,  that,  as  they  had  be- 
lieved in  God,  so  also  they  would  believe  in  him."  And 
the  enforcing  this  particular  duty  is  the  great  intent  of 
the  whole  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews.  God,  at  sandjy 
times,  and  in  divers  manners,  had  spoken  to  their  fa- 
thers °  Here  now  is  the  dispensation  of  the  Father^, 
which  the  Scriptures  recognize;  from  whence  the  apos- 
tle endeavours  to  lead  them  to  the  dispensation  of  the 
Son;  to  what,  in  these  last  days,  God  hath  spoken  to 
us  by  his  Son,^  that  they  should  take  the  9nore  earnest 
heed  to  the  things  which  we  have  heard,  not  to  neglect 
the  great  salvation  which  began  to  be  spoken  by  the 
Lord  himself,  and  was  confirmed  unto  us  by  them  that 
heard  him  ;  God  also  bearing  them  ivitness,  both  with 
•signs  andivonders,  andwith  divers  miracles  and  gifts  of 
the  Holy  Ghost.'^  He  observed  to  them,  that,  in  obeying 
Moses,  they  had  not  refused  one,  who  spake  to  them  on. 
earth.  He  exhorts  them  now,  agreeably  hereto,  not  to 
refuse  him  who  spake  to  them  from  Heaven.''  In  a 
word,  the  whole  design  of  this  epistle  is  to  set  forth  to 
the  Hebrews,  that  faith  had  always  come  by  hearing  ; 
that  the  foundation  of  all  revealed  religion  had  in  all 
ages  been,  the  receiving  and  believing  the  word  of  God; 
and  the  intent  of  the  eleventh  chapter  is  to  set  before  us 
a  cloud  of  vvltnesses  or  examples  of  this  fact.  Now,  to 
suppose  that  any  one  instance,  given  by  the  apostle  in 
this  chapter,  was  intended  to  hint  any  other /az7A,  than 
the  belief  of  some  explicit  revelation,  is  to  suppose  that 
the  apostle  has  deviated  from  his  argument  to  something 
entirely  foreign,  if  not  opposite  to  it. 

But  it  will  be  here  asked;  What  proof,  or  shadow  of 
proof,  can  we  bring  of  Enocli's  having  had  any  express 

■n  See  Job  v,  8;  Psal.  cv,  4,  5  ;   Isa.  Ivlii,  2  ;  viii,  19,  20;  Deut.  viii,  6  ;  T 
Kings  xxiii,  3,  &c.;  Job  xxii,  22. 

John  xiv,  1,  o  Heb.  i,  1,  p  Heb.  i,  2. 

"  Chap,  ii,  1—3.  '  Chap,  xii,  25. 


56  INTRODUCTION. 

revelation  from  God?  I  answer,  1.  We  are  informed  that 
Enoch  prophesied  of  the  judgment  to  come,  that  the 
Lord  ivonld  come  imth  thousands  of  his  saints,  ^'C/ 
2.  Moses  informs  us,  tliat  in  Enoch's  days  ?nen  began  to 
call  upon  the  name  of  the  Lord.*  Upon  which  words 
I  would  observe,  1.  That  the  expression  in  tliis  place 
means,  that  at  this  time  began  the  distinction  of  man- 
kind's being  called,  some  the  sons  of  God,  others  the 
sons  of  men.^'  2.  I  have  indeed  observed,  that  the 
words,  ka7'a  beshem  Jehovah,  was  an  expression  used 
concerning  Abraham  and  his  descendants,  and  signified 
that  they  invoked  God,  in  the  name  of  the  Lord  ivho 
had  appeared  to  Abraham.^  But  I  do  not  think  that 
this  expression  had  been  thus  used  before  the  days  of 
Abraham."  3.  A  very  learned  and  judicious  writer 
observes,  and  gives  instances,  that  the  word  hochal,^ 
which  we  translate  began,  may  signify  had  hope  \^  and 
he  remarks,  that  the  Septuagint  so  understood  and 
translated  it.  yro$  r}^T(.i(5%v  zniKo!ku<5%ai  ro  orof/a  xv^ia  rn 
0fa.  To  Enoch,  then,  hope  was  given  in  his  being  called 
by  the  name  of  the  Lord  his  God.  I  can  see  no  reason 
to  reject  what  this  able  writer  offers  upon  the  text. 
And  we  may  consider  upon  it,  that  the  hope  was  un-' 
doubtedly  great  unto  whom  it  was  given  to  be  called  by 
this  name.     Why  ought  we  not  to  reason  concerning 


»  See  Jude  14,  15.  .      '  Gen.  Iv,  26. 

"  See  Connect,  vol.  i,  b.  i,  p.  40. 

w  Ibid.  b.  V,  p.  176.  I  have  been  told  tliat  I  must  be  thought  to  err  in  giving 
this  particular  interpretation  of  the  words  hai-a  beshevt.  It  is  said,  that  the 
xviiith  chapter  of  the  first  book  of  Kings,  vcr.  26,  sliows,  that  the  expression 
signifies  to  call  on  the  name.  The  priests  of  Raal,  we  are  there  told  (ijjjt 
Vyan  ICN*?  Spn-Difa  rwipM,)  ealledvpon  the  name  of  Baal,  saying,  O  Haul.'  hear 
U3.  Are  we  not  here  told  plainly,  that  their  saying,  O  Baut .'  hear  us,  was 
their  calling  upon  the  name  of  Baal?  Wiiy  then  must  kareau  beshem  Baal 
be  any  thing  more  than  they  called  upon  the  name  of  Baal?  1  answer;  we 
are  here  easily  misled  by  our  rendei-ing  leamor,  saying;  had  the  participle 
been  here  used  (aomarim)  dicentes,  tliere  would  have  been  a  greater  plea  for 
what  is  objected  to  me.  But  the  infinitive  mood,  witli  le  prefixed,  though  it 
ma\  be  often  rendered  by  the  gerund  in  do,  in  Latin  (Icamorl  diceudo,  is  also 
many  times  to  be  rendered  by  the  gerund  in  dnm  (ieamor,)  ad  duendnm,  see 
Noldins  in  Partic.  and  may  signify  to  the  saying :  when  thus  used,  it  implies  a 
proceeding  from  what  was  said  before,  to  something  farther.  We  often  pray 
unto  God  in  the  name  of  our  Saviour;  but  we  often  proceed  farther,  and  say, 
O  Christ .'  hear  us.  In  this  manner,  the  priests  of  H;uil  invoked  in  the  name 
of  Haul,  to  the  saying.  1.  e.  and  proceeded  even  to  pray,  O  Baal .'  hear  us. 
Kara  s hem,  or  kara  ixl  shem.  may  signify  to  2>n)oc(ife,  or  call  upon  the  name  » 
but  kara  be  shem  cannot  admit  this  signification ;  see  Connect,  ubi  sup. 

«  Connect,  vol.  ii,  b  vii,  p.  1 16. 

y  Ste  Riitherforth's  Essay  on  Virtue,  p.  997- 

^  The  Hebrew  verb  Sn>  is  speravit :  desiderio  expectavit,  &c. 


INTRODUCTION.  57 

them,  as  we  may  of  ourselves?  Behold,  ivhat  manner 
of  love  was  herein  bestowed  upon  them,  that  they  should 
be  called  the  sons  of  God  ?="  They  were  now  the  sons  of 
God.  Undoubtedly  it  did  not  appear  ivhat  they  shall 
be;  but,  as  Enoch  prophesied  nnio  them,  that  the  Loud 
cometh  with  ten  thousand  of  his  saints,  to  execute  judg- 
ment; it  must  be,  that  all  who  had  this  hope  of  their 
calling,  and  held  fiist  the  profession  of  it,  knew,  that 
when  he  shall  appear,  they  shall  be  like  him,  for  they 
shall  see  him  as  he  is.^  When  He^  ivho  is  their  life, 
shall  appear,  they  also  shall  appear  with  him  in  glory.'' 
We  may  surely  hence  well  understand  what  was  the 
particular  revelation  made  to  Enoch;  namely,  a  revela- 
tion of  the  hope  of  another  world;  and  the  supposing 
him  translated  for  receiving  and  embracing  this  faith, 
and  faithfully  preaching  it  to  others;  himself  living  an 
example  of  repentance  according  to  the  tenor  of  it,  is 
no  more  than  supposing  that  God  testified  in  him  to  the 
world,  that  what  he  had  published  by  him  was  truth. 
Enoch  was  translated  A.  M.  987,  which  is  fifty-seven 
years  after  Adam's  death.''  Enoch  was  born  A.  M. 
622,^  above  three  hundred  years  before  the  death  of 
Adam.  If  we  may  suppose,  that  Enoch  had  received 
and  preached  the  revelation  of  this  hope,  about  the 
middle  of  his  life  time,  we  have  the  grounds  for  what 
the  reader  will  find  I  have  oifered;  namely,  that  some 
time  before  Adam  died,  God  had  given  the  hopes  of 
another  world. ^ 

III.  I  have  to  consider,  that  sacrifices  of  the  living 
creatures  were  not  originally  the  invention  of  men.  The 
writers,  who  would  argue  they  were  such,  carry  us  back 
to  the  times  of  Orpheus,  or  of  some  other  sage  and  wise 
personages  about  his  age,  who  reformed  and  civilized 
the  barbarous  clans  of  savage  and  uncultivated  people, 
who  overran  the  parts  adjacent  to  them.  They  endea- 
vour to  show  us,  that  the  first  step  they  took  to  humanize 
the  minds  of  those  with  whom  they  conversed,  was  to 
endeavour  to  dissatisfy  them  with  the  thoughts  of  eating 
the  living  creatures,  and  to  persuade  them,  that  taking 
away  the  life  of  any  thing,  must  be  a  violence  which 

^  See  1  John  iii,  1.  t  ver.  2.  '  See  Coloss,  iii. 

''  See  the  table  of  the  lives  and  deaths  of  the  antediluvian  patriarchs,  Coe- 
<\ect.  vol.  i,  b.  i,  p,  57 ^  58. 

'  Ibid.  ^  See  hereafter,  chap.  xii. 


58  INTKODUCTIOK. 

could  not  make  the  so  doing  an  acceptable  sacrifice  to 
God.  This,  the  poet  tells  us,  was  the  endeavour  of 
Orpheus  in  particular, 

Sylvestres  lioniines  sacer  interprcsque  Ueorum 
Cxdibus  et  focdo  victu  deterru.t  Orplieiis, 
Dictiis  ob  hoc  lenire  ligres  rapidosque  leones. 

Hon. 

Orpheus  is  supposed  to  have  lived  about  the  Argonautic 
times,  later  than  A.  M.  2700:  but  what  if  he,  and  all 
the  reformers,  such  as  he  was,  had  lived  much  earlier? 
What  if,  not  really  knowing  the  history  of  the  begin- 
ning of  mankind,  they  had  thought  it  a  reasonable  doc- 
trine, very  proper  to  repress  and  subdue  the  outrage 
and  violence  they  saw  the  Earth  full  of;  when  men  not 
only  destroyed  the  beasts  of  the  field,  but  made  as  free 
with  the  lives  of  one  another?  What,  I  say,  if  they 
deemed  it  a  doctrine  which  might  be  effectual,  in  putting 
an  end  to  these  violences,  to  teach  that  the  gods  could 
not  be  pleased  with  blood ;  that  the  first  sacrifices  of 
mankind  were  of  the  fruits  of  the  Earth ;  or  mixtures 
of  oil,  milk,  and  honey;  of  odoriferous  spices,  herbs, 
and  gums ;  of  the  leaves  of  trees,  of  nuts,  acorns,  and 
berries  :  of  every  thing,  which  men  could  offer  innocu- 
ous, neither  doing  violence  to  any  thing  to  which  Gon 
had  given  the  breath  of  life,  nor  to  one  another?  Will 
it,  because  these  doctrines  have  in  them  what  is  agree- 
able to  the  humanity  of  our  nature,  and  might  be 
thought  reasonable  to  these  men,  who  first  taught  these 
tenets ;  will  it,  I  say,  hence  follow,  that  what  a  well- 
warranted  history  relates  as  having  been  fact  near  three 
thousand  years  before,  was  mere  fiction  and  fable,  be- 
cause it  does  not  accord  with  what  was  taught  in  these 
so  much  later  times? 

If  the  natural  tenderness  and  regret  of  human  nature 
against  all  appearance  of  barbarity  were  made  use  of  to 
show,  how  great  a  consternation  it  must  have  been  to 
the  first  men,  at  a  time  when  the  creatures  were  not 
their  food  ;*-'  and  it  could  not  but  be  more  natural  for 
them  to  say,  of  every  thing  living, 

vitaque  magis  quam  morte  jiivatis, 

Ovid. 

e  The  writers,  who  would  arg'ue  that  sacrifices  of  tlie  living  creatures  had 
commenced  from  human  institution,  would  have  it,  that  tlie  eating  flesh  wa» 
liefore  the  flood;  that  tlie  command  to  Noah,  was  to  rejjulate,  net  to  give  th> 


INTRODUCTION.  59 

when  to  see  it  living  must  have  been  more  agreeable,  as 
well  as  more  useful,''  than  to  put  it  to  death  ;  what  less 
than  a  command  from  God,  whenever  they  committed  a 
sin,  that  the  sin  might  not  remain,  and  lie  at  their  door," 
could  have  induced  them  to  bring  an  innocent,  and  to 
them  innocuous  animal,  to  offer  its  blood  upon  account 
of  their  own  transgressions?  Time  and  custom  may  re- 
concile us  to  almost  any  thing ;  but  it  is  difficult  to  avoid 
the  reflection,  that  when  mankind  came  first  to  this  ser- 
vice, it  would  truly  rend  thei?'  hearts,  to  see,  as  it  were, 
death,  unto  which  they  knew  themselves  must  one  day 
come  :  to  have  displayed  before  their  eyes  its  pangs  and 
agonies  inflicted  by  themselves  on  a  creature  which  had 
no  demerit ;  merely  because  they  had  themselves  com- 
mitted some  ofience  against  their  God  : — such  a  service 
must  cause  them  both  to  think  upon  the  victim  and  upon 
themselves.  As  to  the  suffering  animal ;  how  could  they 
avoid  asking,  what  has  this  sheep  done  ? 

Quid  meruistis  oves,  placldum  pecus 

Ovid. 

Upon  themselves  they  must  look  with  confusion  of  face, 
that  what  flesh  and  blood  would  naturally  shrink  back 
at,  was  without  mercy  to  be  performed,  merely  upon 
account  of  their  misdoings.  One  would  think,  that 
whilst  their  minds  were  tender  (and  they  ought  care- 
fully to  have  kept  them  so,)  nothing  could  have  been 
enjoined,  which  could  have  been  a  more  affecting  re- 
buke of  sin,  to  raise  in  them  hearty  desires,  if  possible, 
to  sin  no  more,  rather  than  to  come  often  to  repeat  a 
service,  in  its  nature  so  disagreeable  ;  and  to  perform, 
deliberately,  the  rites  of  it.  One  would  think,  that  not 
only  Cain,  but  all  mankind,  would  have  been  glad  to 
have  avoided  it ;  if  the  offering  of  the  fruits  of  the 
ground  might  have  been  accepted  in  its  stead. 


first  liberty  to  eat  flesh  :  sec  Philemon  to  Hydaspes,  p.  55,  letter  v.  But  what 
a  mere  pretence,  without  shadow  of  foundation,  this  is,  let  any  one  consider, 
who  will  examine  what  Lamech  said  at  the  birth  of  Noah,  Cien.  v,  29.  Jlthey 
had  eaten  flesh  as  freely  before  the  flood,  as  after  Noah  had  obtained  a  grant  of 
it,  what  comfort  did  they  want,  or  could  expect,  concerning  their  ivork  and 
toil  of  their  hands,  because  of  the  grouvd  which  the  Lord  liud  cursed? 

^  The  heathen  poets  conceived,  that  some  creatures  might  be  sacrificed 
upon  account  of  their  destroying  the  fruits  of  the  Earth,  of  the  vines  or  trees, 
or  otherwise  having  been  prejudicial  to  men :  see  Ovid,  Fastor.  lib.  i ;  Me- 
t.amorph.  lib.  xv.  But  nothing  of  this  sort  can  be  imagined  to  have  been  Abel's 
reason  for  ottering  of  the  firstlings  of  his  flock. 
See  Gen.  iv,  7, 


60  INTRODUCTION. 

In  fact,  it  appears,  that  sacrifices  had  been  offered 
thousands  of  years  before  any  thing,  which  can  be  cited 
concerning  them  from  heathen  writers,  was  written. 
And,  in  truth,  notliing  can  be  cited  from  thence  to  show 
us  the  reason  of  them,  or  their  origin.  Sacrifices  of  the 
living  creatures,  as  in  the  case  of  Abel,  were  made  ages 
before  mankind  had  any  thought  of  eating  flesh  ;  and, 
consequently,  none  of  the  weak  reasons  into  which  our 
ingenious  writer  supposes  mankind  might  fall,  to  induce 
them  to  offer  to  the  gods  in  their  injudicious  way  of 
thinking,  part  of  what  they  experienced  to  be  suste- 
nance to  themselves,  could  have  any  place  in  their  mind 
at  all.  From  vi'hat  is  argued  in  the  New  Testament, 
the  first  sacrifices  in  the  world  came  of  faith,  and  were 
made  in  obedience  to  some  divine  command.  It  may  be 
apprehended,  that  they  were  an  institution  so  dehorta- 
tory  against  sin,  that  even  upon  this  account  they  would 
appear  a  command  worthy  of  God,  to  creatures  who 
needed  to  be  strongly  warned  against  it.  Besides,  they 
bear  such  a  reference  to  what  was  afterwards  in  reality 
to  take  away  sin,  and  they  might  so  instructively  pre- 
pare the  world  to  leceive  the  revelation  concerning  it, 
when  it  should  be  more  fully  published,  and  to  lead  men 
to  it ;  that  what  is  said,  for  supposing  it  a  human  institu- 
tion, is  frivolous  and  without  foundation.  Therefore  I 
may,  I  think,  without  farther  controversy,  refer  the 
reader  to  the  reason  which  1  have  given  of  this  institu- 
tion ;  viz.  that  God  having  determined  what  should,  in 
the  fulness  of  time,  be  the  propitiation  for  the  sins  of 
the  world;  namely,  Cfirist,  who,  t/irough  his  own 
blood,  obtained  eternal  redemption  for  us  ;  thought  fit, 
from  the  time  uhen  man  became  guilty  of  sin,  to  appoint 
creatures  to  be  off'ered,  to  represent  the  true  offering, 
which  was  afterwards  to  be  made  for  the  sins  of  all 


'  See  Connect,  vol.  i,  b.  ii,  p.  74.  My  ingenious  adversary,  see  Philemon 
to  Ilydaspes,  Letter,  v,  p,  31,  lliinks  it  not  reiisonuble  to  suppose  that  Abel 
offtred  sacrifice  for  any  sin  of  Adam;  and  would  argue  from  St.  Paul's  having 
said,  that  sin  is  not  imputed  tuithout  u  law,  Rom.  v,  13,  that  there  was  no  law- 
given  in  Al)ei's  lime,  declaring  deaili  to  be  the  pmusliment  of  any  sm,  but  of 
the  first  transgression ;  and,  consequently,  that  there  could  be  no  reason  that 
Abel  should  ulfer  a  sacrifice  for  any  sin  of  his  own.  A  little  observation  may 
both  explain  St.  Paul's  meaning,  and  clear  the  confusion  raised  by  my  antago- 
nist. The  Apostle  thus  argues :  ,is  bu  one  man  sin  entered  into  the  world,  and 
death  by  sin;  and  so  (I  should  render  it  eves  so)  death  passed  upon  all  men,  for 
that  all  men  hare  sinned;  for  tintil  the  laic,  sin  7i-as  in  the  7vorld.    'J'he  point  to 


INTRODUCTION.  61 

I  have  here  endeavoured  very  largely  a  reply  to  what 
has  been  objected  to  me  upon  this  subject,  as  I  thought 
it  required  a  full  consideration.  I  would  as  freely  de- 
fend or  retract  any  thing  I  have  written,  which  other 
writers  have  thought  wrong,  if  I  apprehended  it  alike 
material.  But  where  I  think  myself  only  misrepresented, 


be  observed  is,  that  the  Scriptures  conclude  all  men  under  sin,  Gal.  iii,  21,  and 
affirm,  that  that  there  is  710  man  on  Earth  that  sinneth  not,  1  Kings  viii,46.  This, 
therefore,  being  an  allowed  truth,  that  sin  was  in  the  world  until  the  law ;  that 
from  Adam  unto  Moses,  not  Adam  and  Eve  only,  but  every  individual  of  their 
descendants  had  actual  sins  of  their  own,  the  apostle  reasons,  that  there  can 
be  no  injustice  pretended  that  h  too  Ai'dLy.  ttclwh  d'o-oBvitTx.iiatv,  that  in  Adam  all 
die,  1  Cor  xv.  22,  e?  iL  tj-avrs;  iifxapTor  llorn.  V,  12 :  not  i?i  whom  all  sinned,  as 
our  marginal  reference  would  correct  our  version  ;  for,  had  this  been  intended, 
it  would  have  been  W  «  like  iv  tm  'AiSctju  TroLvti;  d'ariBvua-Kna-ir  sp*  w  is  eo  quod,  in 
that,  or  because.  As  by  o?ie  inan,  says  the  apostle,  sin  entered  into  the  -world,  and 

death  by  sin,  Kut  vTa>; even  so,  in  like  manner :  i.  e.  as  deservedly,  death  hath 

pasaed  upon  all  men.  The  foundation  of  which  reasoning  is  plain :  for  deatlt 
being  the  louges  of  sin,  and  all  men  having  done  the  works  of  our  first  parents, 
having  actually  sinned  as  well  as  they,  we  not  only  receive  in  dying,  but  by 
our  sins  deserve  the  same  wages.  Having  thus  stated  this  point,  the  apostle 
proceeds  to  consider  an  objection.  But  sin,  says  he,  is  not  impxaed,  -where 
there  is  no  law .-  nevertheless,  death  reignedfrom  Adam  to  Moses,  even  over  them 
that  had  not  simied  after  the  similitude  of  Adam's  transgression:  Rom.  v,    13, 

14.  The  apostle's  argument  is  so  clear,  I  wonder  it  can  be  mistaken.  He 
allows,  that  sin  is  not  imputed  -where  there  is  no  laiv  ■-  which,  indeed,  is  exactly 
what  he  elsewhere  says,  -where  no  la-w  is,  there  is  710  traiisgression :  Rom.  iv, 

15.  For,  as  St.  John  observes,  si7i  is  the  transgression  of  the  la-w:  1  John  iii,  4. 
Nevertiieless,  says  he,  notwithstanding  all  that  may  thus  be  reasoned,  and 
although  none  like  our  parents  have  eaten  of  the  forbidden  tree;  yet  death 
hath  reigned  from  Adam  down  to  Moses  :  all  have  received  the  wages  of  sin, 
and  therefore,  in  fact,  all  have  sinned  :  and,  consequently,  as  there  would  have 
been  no  sin,  had  there  been  no  law ;  there  certainly  has  been  a  law,  which  all 
men,  every  one,  has  in  many  instances  failed  of  living  up  to  ;  and,  in  these 
failures,  every  man  living,  or  that  has  lived,  has  had  actual  sin.  Thus  the 
apostle's  argument  concludes  directly  contrary  to  my  ingenious  correspondent, 
Abel  had  sin  as  well  as  all  other  men;  but  he  would  have  had  no  sin,  if  he 
had  not  lived  under  some  law  ;  therefore  he  lived  under  the  law  of  some  reve- 
lation, which  appointed  sacrifice  for  sin.  And  upon  sinning,  that  his  «>i 
might  not  remain  &nd  lie  at  his  door,  believing  and  obeying  what  God  had  com- 
manded, he  offered  his  sacrifice,  and  therein,  by  faith,  obtained  forgiveness 
of  sin. 

If  it  were  not  foreign  to  the  point  before  us  to  proceed  to  the  context,  we 
might  refute  by  it  a  calumny  of  Lord  Bolingbroke  against  Eve;  who  says,  she 
damned  her  children  before  she  bare  them:  Study  of  History,  Letter  iii,  p. 
109.  His  Lordship  in  nowise  understood,  how,  not  as  the  offence  in  Adam,  so 
also  is  the  free  gift  in  Christ:  Rom.  v,  15.  In  Adam,  indeed,  all  died ;  and  so 
in  Christ  shall  all  be  made  alive :  1  Cor.  xv,  22.  But  we  shall  noL  only  be  made 
alive;  this  might  be  given  us,  and  we  migiit  live  unto  condemnation  for  our 
own  sins.  But  the  free  gift  aboundeth  in  the  fogriveness  of  inuny  offences  unto 
justification  of  life :  Rom.  v,  16 — 18,  &c.;  and  thus  Eve  damned  none  of  her 
children ;  for  there  was  no  necessity,  that  any  shoidd  thus  terribly  perish.  All 
were  to  live  again ,-  and  to  as  many  as  would  truly  strive  to  obtain  it,  poxver 
was  given  to  become  the  sons  of  God,  to  live  unto  honour,  to  gory,  and  eternal 
happiness  But  this  is  not  the  only  instance  of  this  unhappy  writer's  most 
unwarrantable  rashness.  How  dogmatically  he  can  abuse  even  'the  Scriptures, 
not  really  knowing  them,  must  be  very  evident  to  any  one  who  will  read  Mr. 
Hervey's  most  excellent  remarks  on  Lord  Bolingbroke's  Letters ;  a  treati^'e 
worth  every  one's  attentive  consideration. 

Vol.  IV.  I 


6'/i  INTRODUCTION. 

or  a  controversy  to  be  rather  souglit  for,  than  to  be  of 
any  service  to  truth,  I  wish  to  enjoy  silence  and  quiet, 
rather  than  trouble  the  world  with  an  altercation,  which 
can  be  of  no  use.  In  some  small  points,  the  reader  may 
observe,  that  I  have  varied  from  myself.  When  I  began 
my  Connection,  I  too  hastily  concluded,  that  God  ap- 
peared to  Cain."^  I  thought  this  a  mistake,  when  1 
wrote  my  second  volume;"  and,  in  the  ensuing  treatise, 
have  followed  what  I  apprehended,  upon  second  exami- 
nation, to  be  true."  Yet  I  let  my  error  stand  in  later 
editions  of  my  first  volume,  as  I  at  first  printed  it:  and 
shall  do  the  same  thing,  where  I  difl'er  in  this  treatise 
from  what  I  formerly  conceived  to  be  the  situation  of  the 
garden  of  Eden.P  I  would  not,  by  having  written,  be 
prevented  from  growing  wiser;  but  hojie,  that  the 
alterations  of  what  I  have  written  may  not  be  necessarily 
very  many.  However,  if  I  should  live  and  have  health 
to  finish  my  Connection,  they  may  be  collected  and  re- 
ferred to  in  a  page  by  themselves ;  and  the  whole  of 
what  is  printed  continuing  as  it  is,  I  may  show,  that  I 
am  at  least  just  to  the  world,  in  not  printing  new  editions 
of  any  works  of  mine,  which  may  depreciate  any  for- 
mer ones. 

The  chief  point  inquired  into  in  the  ensuing  treatise 
is,  indeed,  the  direct  opposite  to  what  I  see  stated  by  the 
author  whom  I  have  often  cited.  "^^  If  we  consider,'' 
says  he,  '^  the  order  of  the  sciences  in  their  rise  and  pro- 
gress, the  first  place  belongs  to  natural  philosophy,  the 
mother  of  them  all,  or  the  trunk,  the  tree  of  knowledge, 
out  of  which,  and  in  proportion  to  which,  like  so  many 
branches,  they  all  grow."**  The  Scriptures,  I  think, 
teach  otherwise :  the  first  information  which  man  had, 
came  from  hearing  the  word  of  God  ;'^  and  the  first  error, 
which  came  into  the  world,  arose  from  our  first  parents' 
opposing  their  first  philosophy  to  it.*  Their  thought 
was  indeed  low  and  mean,  not  deserving  to  be  called 
philosophy  ;  but  it  was  the  supposed  science  of  the  day, 
and  they  ventured  to  be  led  by  it,  contrary  to  what  God 

"•  Connect,  vol.  i,  b  i,  p.  35.  "  See  vol.  ii,  b.  ix,  p.  253. 

o  See  liereafter,  chap,  ii.  ||cc. 

V  Connect,  vol.  i,  b.  i,  p.  70 ;  see  hereafter,  chap.  viii. 
■)  lord  Uolingbroke's  Letters  to  Sir  William  Wyndhain,  and  to  .Mr  Pope, 
p.  466. 

'  Gen.  ii,  15,  16;  see  the  ensuing  treatise,  chapters  iv,  and  v. 
=  Ibid.  chap.  ix. :  ste  chap,  v,  and  vii. 


INTRODUCTION.  G3 

had  commanded.  If  we  proceed,  the  Scriptures  show 
us,  wherein  the  word  of  God  was  to  be  to  man  the  ground 
of  truth  ;  and  how  human  science,  falsely  so  called,  op- 
posed to  it,  has  been,  and  may  still  be,  the  root  of  all 
error.  The  rightly  determining  how  far  we  ought  to 
begin  under  the  guidance  of  faith ;  and  wherein,  and 
how,  we  may  proceed  to  add  knowledge  to  it;  to  prove 
and  examine  whether  we  be  in  the  truth,  in  contradis- 
tinction to  what  some  contend,  that  we  must  begin  in 
knowledge,  and  hereby  become  perfect,  is  the  one  ques- 
tion, which,  rightly  stated  and  examined,  will,  accord- 
ing to  what  we  determine  concerning  it,  incline  us  either 
to  deism,  or  to  embrace  and  see  the  reason  of  the  reve- 
lation set  before  us  in  the  Scriptures.  Concerning  these, 
with  regard  to  myself,  I  will  venture  to  say,  that  I  have 
studied  them,  not,  as  Lord  Bolingbroke  imputes  to  us,  in 
order  (/.  e.  right  or  wrong  determined)  to  believe:  but 
the  moie  impartially  I  examine,  I  find  more  and  more 
reason  to  believe  them  to  be  true.  Accordingly,  althougli 
I  am  a  clergyman,  I  am  verily  persuaded,  that  I  believe 
and  profess  in  matters  of  religion  nothing,  but  what,  if  I 
were  a  layman,  I  should  believe  and  profess  the  same. 
His  lordship  says  of  the  clergy,  in  his  round  and  large 
manner  of  affirming,  that  '^  in  natural  religion  the  clergy 
are  unnecessary;  in  revealed,  they  are  dangerous 
guides."*  How  far  any  will  be  guided  by  me,  I  hope 
I  shall  always  know  myself  so  well,  as  to  leave  that  to 
their  own  choice.  As  to  the  inutility  of  my  inquiries, 
and  also  the  impartiality  of  them;  here  I  confess  that  I 
wish,  as  I  think  what  I  wish,  may  be  a  good,  not  abso- 
lutely terminating  upon  myself;  that  the  reader  will 
consider  with  as  unbiassed  a  freedom  as  I  have  written, 
how  far  he  may  exempt  me  from  his  lordship's  most  ab 
solute  sentence  of  reprobation. 

f  Lord  Bolingbroke,  ubi  sup.  p,  Sol. 


Cantebbuhv, 
June  2,  1759. 


THE 


CREATION  AND  FALL  OF  MAN. 


world  itself  been  from  eternity,  may  be  proved  by  many 
arguments  from  the  nature,  and  from  what  is,  and  has  in  fact, 
been,  the  known  state  of  the  world  in  the  different  ages 
thereof.^  But  in  what  particular  manner  men  at  first  began 
to  exist ;  where,  and  how  they  lived ;  are  points,  of  which 
we  can  have  no  farther  certainty,  than  we  have  some  authen- 
tic testimony  declaring  them  unto  us. 

The  heathen  writers  have  given  us  their  conjectures  upon 
these  subjects,  but  they  are  only  conjectures.^  Some  part 
of  what  they  offer,  indeed,  might  be  admitted  as  probable, 
if  we  were  not  better  informed,  that  in  the  beginning  things 
were  not  done  as  they  supposed.  But  in  having  the  writings 
of  Moses,  we  have  a  real  history  of  these  matters ;  and,  as 
I  have  elsewhere^  made  some  observations  upon  his  account 
of  the  creation  of  the  Heavens  and  the  Earth,  I  would  herein 
examine,  what  he  relates  concerning  the  creation  of  mankind; 
the  manner  and  circumstances  in  which  our  first  parents  began 
their  being,  and  the  incidents  which  befel  them ;  hoping  to 

1  See  Archbishop  Tillotson,  serm.  i.;  Wilkias's  Nat.  Rel.b,  i,  c.5. 

^  Diodor.  Sic.  lib,  i,  p.  5. 

'i  Connect.  Sac.  et  Prof.  Hist.  pref.  to  vol.  i. 


66  THE  CREATION,  &:c. 

show,  that  Moses's  account  may  reasonably  ba  believed  to  set 
before  us  what  were  real  matters  of  fact;  aad  that  no  part  of 
what  is  related  by  him  ought  to  be  taken  to  be  apologue  and 
fable,  as  some  writers  are  fond  of  representing."* 

That  the  subject  I  am  attempting  has  many  difficulties. 
1  am  ready  to  confess,  and  not  willing  to  be  too  positive  I 
can  remove  them  all :  but  as  I  apprehend  the  substance  of 
what  I  have  to  offer  will  be  seen  to  carry  an  evident  design  to 
give  a  reason  for,  and  thereby  to  establish,  the  principles 
of  revealed  religion;  I  persuade  myself  I  shall  find  all  that 
candour,  which  I  have  long  ago  experienced  the  world  not 
unwilling  to  bestow  upon  a  well-intended  endeavour,  con- 
ducted, as  I  trust  this  shall  be,  without  ill-nature  or  ill  man- 
ners to  other  writers,  however  I  may  happen  to  differ  from 
them, 

•>  It  is  observable,  that  some  years  ago  the  most  forward  writers  expressed 
doubt  and  reserve  in  treating  this  subject :  Qusedem  esse  parabolica  in  hac 
narratione  neque  penllus  ad  litteram  exigenda  onines  fere  agnoscunt :  nonnulli 
t'tiam  totum  sermonem  esse  volunt  CTroTUTruKJiv  artificiosam  ad  explicandas  res 
veras,  said  Dr.  Burnet,  Arcbxolog.  p.  283.  But  we  find  writers,  who  have 
added  no  argument  beyond  wliat  Dr.  Burnet  had  before  offered,  now  more  ab- 
solutely asserting,  that  the  matter  of  \foses's  account  is  inconsistent  with 
the  character  of  an  historical  narration,  and  must,  they  say,  convince  all,  who 
consider  it  without  prejudice,  that  it  is  wholly  fabulous  or  allegorical.  Set 
Middleton';^  Exam,  p,  135, 


CHAPTER  1. 


The  first  and  second  chapters  of  Genesis  reconciled  and 
adjusted  to  each  other. 

THE  first  and  second  chapters  of  Genesis  give  us  the  whole 
of  what  Moses  relates  concerning  the  creation  of  mankind. 
Now,  we  shall  see  that  they  accord  perfectly  with  each  other; 
if  we  consider  the  first  chapter  as  giving  only  a  short  and 
general  account  of  this  great  transaction;  and  the  second  to 
be  a  resumption  of  the  subject,  in  order  to  relate  some  par- 
ticulars belonging  to  it,  which  in  the  conciseness  of  the  first 
relation  v^^ere  passed  over  unmentioned. 

In  the  first  chapter,  Moses,  having  recorded  the  several 
transactions  of  the  five  preceding  days,  begins  the  sixth  day 
with  God's  creating  the  cattle,  and  living  creatures  of  the 
Earth,^  and  then  adds  his  determination  to  make  man :  God. 
said,  let  us  make  man  in  our  image,  after  our  likeness,  and 
let  them  have  dominion  over  the  fish  of  the  sea,  and  over 
the  fowl  of  the  air,  and  over  the  cattle,  and  over  all  the 
Earth,  and  over  every  creeping  thing  that  creepeth  \ijwn 
the  Earth?'  After  this,  Moses  tells  us,  that  God  efiected 
his  purpose:  so  God  created  man  in  his  own  image,  in  the 
image  of  GtQ\)  created  he  ylvsi-?  unto  which  he  adds,  male 
and  female  created  he  them.'*  The  Hebrew  words  are  as  I 
have  below  transcribed  them  :^  and  they  might  be  translated 
as  I  have  underlined  them :  the  male  and  the  female,  he 
created  them;  i.  e.  he  created  them  both;  not  the  male  only, 
but  the  female  also.  The  words  of  Moses  are  very  plain:  he 
tells  us,  that  God  on  the  sixth  day  created  the  woman  as  well 
as  the  man.  He  does  not  say,  that  God  created  both  at  the 
same  instant,  nor  in  the  same  manner;  for  this  he  distinctl}- 
considers  in  the  next  chapter.  But  he  here  hints  to  us,  that 
God  made  both  the  male  and  the  female  within  the  time  of 

«  Gen  i,  24,25.  2  Ver.  26.  3  Ver.  27-  *  Ibid^ 

eos  creavit  et  fffimiiwm  marenR 


68  THE  CREATION  AND  CHAP.  1- 

this  sixth  day :  and  Moses's  expression  gives  no  grounds  of 
the  conceits  concerning  Adam  before  Eve  was  taken  out  of 
him,  in  which  some  writers  have  egrcgiously  trifled.'' 

After  both  the  man  and  the  woman  were  created,  God 
blessed  them,  and  said  unto  them,  be  fruitful,  and  viultiply, 
and  replenish  the  Earth,  and  subdue  it:  and  have  domi- 
nion over  the  fish  of  the  sea,  and  over  the  fowl  of  the  air, 
and  over  every  living  thing  that  moveth  upon  the  earth: 
and  God  said,  behold,  I  have  given  you  every  herb  bearing 
seed,  ivhich  is  upon  the  face  of  all  the  earth,  and  every 
tree,  in  which  is  the  fruit  of  a  tree  yielding  seed,  to 
you  it  shall  be  for  meat :  and  to  every  beast  of  the 
earth,  and  to  every  fowl  of  the  air,  and  to  every  thing 
that  creepeth  upon  the  earth,  wherein  there  is  life,  I 
have  given  every  green  herb  for  meat :''  and  now  the  even- 
ing and  the  morning  were  the  sixth  day.^  Tlie  sixth 
day  was  now  completed,  and  the  seventh  day  began,  on 
which  God,  having  finished  the  creation,  rested  from  all  the 
work  which  he  had  made.  And  God  blessed  the  seventh  day, 
and  sanctified  it,  because  that  in  it  he  had  rested  from  all 
his  work,  which  he  had  created  and  made  :^  these  are  the 
generations  of  the  Heavens,  and  of  the  Earth,  when  they 
were  created.^ 

Moses  here  ends  his  summary,  or  general  account,  of  tiie 
creation:  and  here,  I  think,  they  who  divided  our  Bible  into 
chapters  and  verses  should  have  ended  the  first  chapter  of 
Genesis;  and  the  second  chapter  should  have  begun  with 
these  words:  In  the  day  that  the  Lord  made  the  Earth 
and  the  Heavens,  ^-c. 

The  second  chapter  of  Genesis  being,  as  I  have  hinted,  a 
resumption  of  the  argument  treated  in  the  first,  in  order  to 

6  Some  fanciful  writers  have  represented,  that  the  man  was  at  first  created 
of  two  bodies,  a  mule  and  a  female ;  and  ihal  God  of  these  made  two  persons,  by 
dividing  or  separating  the  one  body  from  tlie  other.  It  is  geiwrally  said,  that 
this  was  a  fiction  of  the  rabbins  ;  but  I  should  apprehend  it  to  be  ot  a  more 
early  origin.  Plato's  fable  of  the  Androgynes  (see  Plat,  in  Conviv  vol.  iii,  p. 
189,  edit.  Serrani)  shows  us  wh.at  sort  of  traditions  he  met  with  in  searching 
through  tlie  then  ancient  literature ;  and  1  should  think  it  no  unreasonable  sup- 
position, that  a  fiction  of  this  kind  might  have  its  first  rise  in  tliose  early  times, 
when  the  Egyptians  and  Phoenicians  began  or  made  proficiency  in  disguising, 
with  their  fables  and  mytho;ogv,  the  jDlain  narrations  they  found  of  the  origin 
of  things.  See  Euscb.  Prxp.  Evang.  lib.  i,  c.  10;  Connect,  of  Sac.  and  Prof. 
Hist.  vol.  ii,  book  viii. 

7  Gen.  i,  28,  29,  30. 

8  Ver.  31.  This  was  the  ancient  way  of  computing  the  natural  day :  it  be- 
gan from  the  morning,  proceeded  to  the  evening,  and  continued  vmtil  the  next 
morning;  finished  the  preceding,  and  began  the  ensuing  day.  Thus  the  even- 
ing and  the  morning  were  the  day,  Gen.  i,  5,  8,  13,  19,  .'3,  31.  .\nd  in  this 
way  of  computing,  the  Jews  continued  to  their  latest  times.  For  thus  we  are 
told  of  the  end  of  the  Sabbath,  .Matt,  xxviii,  1.  The  Sabbath  was  ending,  as 
it  began  to  dawn  tow.irds  tlie  first  day  of  the  week :  the  end  of  the  night 
which  had  closed  the  Sabbath  was  the  end  of  the  computed  day.  The  dav 
following  began  with  the  morning  sun. 

3  Gen.  li,  2,  3.  *  Ver.  4. 


CHAP.   I.  TALL  OF  iMAN.  69 

• 

set  forth  more  explicitly  some  particulars,  which  the  first 
chapter  had  only  mentioned  in  general,  begins  thus:  I?i  the 
day  that,  i.  e.  wheii^  the  Lord  made  the  Earth  and  the 
Heavens,  and  every  plant  of  the  field,  before  it  teas  in  the 
Earth,  and  every  herb  of  the  field,  before  it  grew,  for  the 
Lord  God  had  not  caused  it^  to  rain  upon  the  Earth  ;  and 
there  ivas  not  a  man  to  till  the  ground ;  7io7^*  did  a  mist  go 
up  from  the  Earth  and  water  the  whole  face  of  the  ground: 
but  the  Lord  God  formed  man  of  the  dust  of  the  ground, 
and  breathed  into  his  nostrils  the  breath  of  life,  and  tnan 
became  a  living  soul,  ^find  the  Lord  God  \idA^ planted  a 
garden  eastward  in  Eden,  and  there  he  put  the  man  ivhom 
he  had  formed. 

•■  In  this  manner  Moses  proceeds  to  reconsider  the  creation 
of  man;  first  observing,  that  of  itself,  or  by  any  powers  of  its 
own,  the  Earth  had  produced  nothing.  It  was  an  ancient 
opinion,  a»nd  very  early  i'^i  Egypt,  where  Moses  had  his  birth 
and  education,  that  the  Earth  originally,  of  itself,  brought 
forth  its  fruits,  plants,  trees,  and  all  kinds  of  living  creatures, 
and  men.^     Some  have  thought,  that  the  natural  fertility  of 

2  Eo  (lie,  i.  e.  quando — Dies  tempus  in  genere  passim  dicltur.  Cleric,  ia 
loc. 

3  We  begin  this  sentence  jvith  the  particle /or.-  the  Hebrew  text  h.iving' 
the  particle  o  [ci,]  we  put  mfor  to  answer  it :  but  cj  should  be  here  rendered 
nempe,  quidem,  indeed,  not  fw:  the  sentence  not  being, ybr  the  Lorb  God  had 
■not  caused  it  to  rairi — ;  but  rather,  the  Loru  God  had  indeed  not  caused  it  to 
rain — . 

■*  We  render  this  paragi'aph,  but  there  tuent  up  a  irUstfroin  the  Earth,  in  the 
affirmative ;  whereas  the  sense  of  the  place  shows  us,  that  Moses  intended  to 
assert,  that  God  made  all  things  before  any  natural  powers  were  in  activity  to 
be  the  cause  of  their  production:  the  Hebrew  particle  i  [ve]  is  here  used,  and 
joins  similar,  i.  e.  negative  sentences  ;  there  was  no  man  to  till  the  ground, 
nor  mist  went  up  from  the  Earth.  I'he  Arabic  version  has  observed  the  true 
meaning  of  the  place,  rendering  it,  nee  exhalatio  ascendebat,  &c. 

5  We  say  planted,  in  the  perfect  tense ;  but  the  Hebrew  perfect  tense  is  often 
used  in  the  sense  of  a preterpluperfect  to  speak  of  things  done  in  a  time  past. 
This  the  Syriac  version  seems  rightly  to  observe  in  a  passage  like  this  in  the 
19th  verse  of  this  chapter.  W'e  s.ay,  the  Lokd  God  formed  out  of  the  ground 
every  beast — ,  as  if  God  then  made  them,  whereas  the  beasts  were  made  some 
time  before  :  the  Syriac  version  is  rendered,  and  the  Lord  God  had  formed — . 
And  thus  we  should  render  the  place  befoi-e  us :  and  the  Loud  God  had 
planted  a  garden- — for  the  garden  was  undoubtedly  planted  on  the  third  day  of 
the  creation,  when  God  caused  all  the  plants  and  trees  to  spring  out  of  the 
Earth,  Gen.  i,  1],  12,  12.  Vide  Diodor.  Sic.  Hist.  lib.  i,  p,  5.  The  Greeks 
had  sentiments  of  this  kind  from  Egypt :  for  thus  Euripides, 

'n?  ovpxvoc  Ti  yttid  t'  »v  y.ofP)  /u-i^' 
'E?r£<  tP  i^ci>iiio-^»tra.v  aA^>'A(W  tfi';^a, 
Tix-TOva-i  •mi.i'ri.  K^ViSuKctv  ik  fair, 
Tk  J'ivJpu,,   *T«vk,   S-iToa-;  iv;   •&'   ak/xn   TfifU, 

In  Mcnalippc,  V.  14. 

6  The  Roman  poet  seems  to  have  been  in  doubt  between  two  opinions  in  this 
matter ;  rather  inclining  to  introduce  an  opifex  rerum  into  all  the  produce  of 
the  whole  creation  ;  but  not  absolutelv  determining  against  the  opinion  of  all 

VoT-.  IV.  ■  K 


70  THE  CRLATION  AND  CHAP.  J. 

• 
the  ground  for  these  purposes  was  put  in  action,  cither  by  the 
rain  which  fell  from  Heaven,  or  by  some  moisture  exhaled 
from  the  Earth,  fertilized  by  the  Sun,  and  falling  down  in  a 
mist,  spread  abroad  over  the  face  of  the  ground."  But  JNIoses, 
contrary  to  all  the  imaginations  of  this  philosophy,  affirms, 
that  by  the  word  of  God  only  all  things  were  made;  that 
there  was  not  a  plant,  which  God  did  not  create  before  it  wa*^ 
in  the  earth;  nor  an  herb,  which  he  had  not  made  before  ir 
grew;  and  that  God  had  made  them  all,  before  either  rain  or 
dew  had  watered  the  earth;  or  the  earth  had  had  any  tillage 
from  the  hand  of  man;  for  that  all  the  produce  of  the  world  had 
its  beginning  before  there  was  any  man  to  till  the  ground :  but 
that  other  things  being  thus  set  in  order,  God  last  of  all  made 
man.  He  had,  as  I  have  observed,  before  told  us,  that  Goi> 
made  man ;  and  that  he  made  two  persons,  the  male  and  the 
female.'  He  now  proceeds  morq  distinctly  to  relate,  of  what 
materials  God  made  them  both;  when,  and  how  they  were 
created;  where  he  placed  them,  and  what  command  and  di- 
rections he  gave  them,  as  soon  as  he  gave  them  being. 

And,  1.  God  made  the  man  of  the  dust  of  the  ground ^ 
breathed  into  him  the  breath  of  life,  and  caused  him  to  be- 
some  a  living  soul.^  2.  He  put  him  into  the  garden,  which 
he  had  planted,  to  dress  it  and  keep  it :  and  having  therein 
caused  to  grow  every  tree  either  pleasant  to  the  sight,  or 
good  for  food  ;  the  tree  of  life  also,  and  the  tree  of  knoiv- 
ledge  of  good  and  evil ;^  the  Lord  God  commaiided  the 
"man,  saying,  of  every  tree  of  the  garden  thou  may  est 
freely  eat :  but  of  the  tree  of  the  knowledge  of  good  and 
evil,  thou  shall  not  eat  of  it ;  for  in  the  day  that  thou  eat- 
est  thereof  thou  shall  surely  die.^  3.  Having  given  the  man 
ibis  injunction,  the  Lord  God  said,  it  is  not  good  that  the 
onan  should  be  alone,  I  will  make  him  a  help  meet  for  him? 
But,  4.  Before  God  proceeded  to  make  this  meet  help  for 

Ui'ings  arising  from  their  natural  seeds  in  the  Earth,  as  soon  as  the  Earth  was 
nntly  disposed  to  give  rise  to  them. 

"  Vix  Ita  limitlbus  discreverat  omnia  certis. 
Cum  qux  pressa  diu  massa  latiiere  sub  ipsa 
Sidera  cceperunt  toto  effervescere  coclo  .- 
Neu  regio  foret  ulla  suis  animalibus  orba, 
Astra  tenent  coeleste  sohmi,  form?eque  deorum. 
Cessenmt  nitidis  habitandx  piscibus  undx  ; 
Terra  feras  cepit,  volucres  agitabilis  acr  : 
Natushomo  est,  sive  hunc  divino  semine  fecit 
Hie  opifex  rerum,  mundi  melioris  orifco ; 
Sive  recens  telUis  seductaque  nuper  ab  alto 
^Ethcre  cognati  retinebat  semina  cceli."  ; 

Ovid.  Metamorph. 

«  1  iius  peiliaps  tliey  thought,  who  would  have  sung  with  Pindar,  ' kfi^zi 
^jv  u/oip-  Ol)  mp.  Ode  i ;  or  thought  with  Thales,  aquam  esse  initium  rerum 
Cicero  Lib.  de  Nat.  DeDr.  i,  c.  10. 

«■  Gen.  i,  27.  »  Chap,  ii,  7.  '  Ver.  9 

2  Ver.  16.  ir  "  Ver.  18. 


CHAP.  I.  FALL  OF  MAN,  71 

man,  the  beasts  of  the  field  being  before  formed,-*  and  every 
fowl  of  the  air,  God  brought  Adam  to  a  trial  how  he  might 
name  them/  And  after  this,  5.  God  caused  a  deep  sleep  to 
fall  upon  Adam,  and  he  slept.  Jind  he  toolc  one  of  his  ribs, 
and  closed  up  the  flesh  instead  thereof  And  the  rib,  which 
the  Lord  Q oh  had  taken  from  man,  made  he  a  looman. 
and  brought  her  unto  the  inan.  And  Adam  said,  this  is 
now  bone  of  my  bones,  and  flesh  of  my  flesji,  she  shall  bt 
called  woman,  because  she  ivas  taken  out  of  the  man.^  These. 
are  the  particulars  relating  to  the  creation  of  mankind,  which 
Moses  distinctly  mentions  in  this  second  chaptei'.  And  if  we 
would  place  them  in  order  as  they  were  done,  together  with 
what  is  hinted  in  the  first  chapter,  we  might  insert  them  between 
the  27th  and  28th  verses  of  the  first  chapter.  God  created  man 
in  his  own  image:  in  the  image  of  God  created  he  him,  and 
the  male  and  the  female  he  created  both  of  themJ  The 
male  he  form,ed  of  the  dust  of  the  ground  f  placed  him 
in  the  garden,  commanded  him  his  duty  there;^  declared  that 
lie  did  not  intend  him  to  be  alone  ;^  called  him  to  try  to  name 
the  creatures  of  the  world  f  then  caused  him  to  fall  into  a 
deep  sleep,  and  out  of  the  man  made  the  woman  to  take  her 
beginning.^  The  male  and  the  female  being  now  both  created^ 
God  gave  them  both  the  general  blessing,  and  said  unto  them 
^11  tliat  Moses  farther  adds  in  the  28th,  29th,  and  30th  verses 
of  the  first  chapter;  in  all  which  the  two  chapters  entirely 
agree,  and  the  second  is  no  more  than  a  supplement  to  the 
former.  For  I  think  it  needless  to  remark,  that  there  is  no 
manner  of  contradiction  between  the  first  chapter's  giving 
them  leave  to  eat  of  every  tree  upon  the  face  of  all  the 
earth,'^  when  the  second  shows  plainly,  that  of  one  tree  in  the 
garden  they  were  not  to  eat*  It  is  only  to  be  observed,  that 
the  forbidden  tree  was  one  tree  only,  and  that  growing  in  the 
garden ;  there  was  no  forbidden  tree  out  of  the  garden  all  over 
the  v/orld.  The  restraint,  as  to  one  tree,  was  enjoined  to  be 
observed  by  them  within  their  garden ;  but  wherever  they 
went  out  of  their  garden  into  the  earth  to  replenish  and  sub" 
due  it,  all  was  common.  They  had  no  care  to  inquire,  whether 
a  like  tree  with  that  prohibited  in  the  garden,  grew  anywhere 
else  in  the  world ;  for  all  that  grew  without  the  garden,  every 
tree,  and  every  herb  upon  the  face  of  the  earth,  was  indis- 
eriminately  given  them  for  meat. 

♦  We  render  the  place,  God  fanned ;  l)ut,  as  I  have  before  observed,  the 
-}  viae  version  is  rightly  translated,  Go»  hixd  formed;  for  the  creatures  were 
■:)i:ide  before  man. 

5  Gen.  ii,  19,  20.  c  Ver.  23,  '  Chap,  i,  27. 

«  Chjip.  ii,  7.  3  Ver.  11,  17.  >  Ver.  18. 

=  Ver.  19,  20.  '  Ver.  ?1,  22.  •»  Chap,  i,  29. 

*  Cliap.  ii,  17. 


CHAPTER  II. 


Considerations  concerning  some  particulars  related  bi^ 
Moses  as  belonging  to  Adam's  first  day. 

NO  sooner  was  Adam  created,  than  ]\Ioses  tells  us  he  heard 
the  voice  of  God;^  and  that,  I  think,  upon  two  different  points. 
First;  he  was  audibly  commanded,  that  he  should  not  eat  of 
the  forbidden  tree.-  Secondly;  he  was  told,  that  he  should 
not  live  alone;  for  that  God  would  make  for  him  a  help,  that 
should  be  his  likeness.^  Without  doubt  he  sufficiently  under- 
stood what  was  thus  spoken  to  him  ;  otherwise  the  voice  of 
God  had  spoken  to  him  in  vain.  But  it  will  be  here  asked, 
how  should  Adam,  having  never  before  heard  words,  instantly 
know  the  meaning  of  what  the  voice  of  God  thus  spake  to 
him?  May  we  not  fully  answer  this  question  by  another? 
how  did  the  apostles,  and  such  of  the  early  disciples  of  Christ 
as  God  so  enabled,-*  instantly  know  the  meaning  of  words,  in 
tongues  or  languages  which  they  had  never  before  heard  or  un- 
derstood? The  Spirit  of  God  in  both  cases  raised  in  the  mind 
the  ideas  intended,  as  far  as  God  was  pleased  to  have  them 
perceived  ;  which  the  words  spoken  would  have  raised,  had  a 

1  Gen.  ii,  17.  -  Ibid. 

^  Ver.  18.  I  apprehend  the  word  which  our  version  renders  a  help  meet  for 
him,  miijht  be  translated,  a  help,  that  shall  be  liis  likeness.  The  Hebrew  words 
&re  nJ33  -i!>"  [nezer  cenegeddo :]  the  interline.ir  Latin  renders  them,  auxilium 
quasi  coram  eo,  a  help,  as  it  xvere  before  him,  i.  e.  in  his  sight  or  presence,  to 
stand  ready  to  receive  liis  instructions,  to  aid  and  execute  them.  But  I  do 
mt  find  tlie  word  neged  ever  thus  used.  To  stand  before,  or  in  the  presence 
of  one  ready  for  liis  aid  or  service,  is,  I  think,  always  otherwise  expressed  in 
Scripture :  See  •eut.  x,  8 ;  1  Sam.  xvi,  22,  &.c.  Some  ol  the  versions  intimate 
the  meaning-  of  this  passage  to  be,  that  God  would  make  for  Adam  a  help  likr 
himself:  adjutorium  simile  sibi,  says  the  vulgar  Latin.  B:-^6:i  ^ar'  au-rcv,  say^ 
the  Septuagint.  The  Smac  is,  adfutorem  similem  ipsi.  Onkelos,  adjutorium 
quasi  cum.  And  why  may  we  not,  instead  of  taking  the  word  neged  to  be  a 
preposition,  and  to  signifj^  coram,  before,  or  in  the  presence  of,  suppose  it  to  be 
a  noun  substantive  from  the  word  nagad,  indicavit,  and  translate  ccneggedo, 
quasi  indicium  ejus  f    I  would  say  in  English,  an  indicatiiig,  or,  as  it  were,  u. 

"-making  likeness  of  him. 

"  ^   1  C  :r,  xii.  10— SO. 


74  THE  CREATION  AXD  CHAP.  II. 

knowledge  of  such  words  in  a  natural  way  been  attained. 
God,  who  planted  the  ear,  hath  given  us  to  hear;  and  so  made 
us,  that  whatever  sound  strikes  that  organ,  shall  move  the 
mind  of  him  who  hears  it.  But  in  themselves  words  are 
mere  sounds;  when  they  strike  the  ear,  the  understanding  in- 
stantly and  naturail}^  judges,  whether  they  are  soft  or  loud, 
harsh  or  agreeable;  i.  e.  how  the  ear  is  affected  by  them. 
But  to  give  words  a  meaning ;  to  make  them  carr)',  not  only 
the  voice  of  the  speaker  to  the  hearer's  ear,  but  the  intention 
of  the  speaker's  mind  to  the  hearer's  heart;  this  comes  not 
naturally  from  mere  hearing,  but  from  having  learned  what 
intention  is  to  be  given  to  such  words  as  are  spoken.  Should 
a  man  hear  it  said  to  him,  bring  the  bread,  it  is  evident,  that 
if  the  words  had  never  before  been  heard  by  him,  they  would 
be  to  him  sounds  of  no  determinate  meaning.  But  let  the 
word  bread  be  repeated  to  him,  and  the  loaf  showed  him,  un- 
til he  perceives,  tliat  whenever  he  hears  the  word  bread,  the 
loaf  is  intended  by  it;  let  him  farther,  upon  hearing  the  word 
bring,  see  the  action  intended  by  this  word  done,  until  he  ap- 
prehends it,  and  from  that  time  the  w'ords,  whenever  he  hears 
them,  will  speak  their  design.  But  should  we  now  say,  that 
therefore  some  process  of  this  sort  must  have  been  necessary 
for  our  first  parents'  understanding  what  God,  in  the  begin- 
ning of  their  being,  was  pleased  to  cause  in  words  to  be  heard 
by  them  ;  we  err  most  inconsiderately,  neither  attending  to 
the  Scriptures,  nor  to  the  power  of  God.  The  Scriptures 
show  us,  in  the  instance  of  the  apostles  and  early  disciples 
above  mentioned,  that  God  has  in  fact,  long  since  the  days  of 
Adam,  made  men  instantly  understand  words  never  before 
heard  or  learned  by  them.  And  he  can  undoubtedly,  from 
any  sound  heard,  teach  the  heart  of  man  what  knowledge  he 
pleases,  instantly  causing,  from  any  w-ords  spoken,  such  sen- 
timents to  arise  in  the  mind,  as  he  thinks  fit  to  cause  by  them. 
This  matter,  I  apprehend,  is  so  plain,  that  it  is  unnecessary  to 
be  argued  in  general;  though  it  may  not  be  improper,  before 
I  leave  this  topic,  to  consider  a  little  farther,  what  extent  or 
compass  of  ideas  wc  may  reasonably  suppose  our  first  parents 
had  of  the  things  spoken. to  them  from  the  words  of  God, 
which  they  heard  in  this  their  first  day. 

An  ingenious  writer  has  queried  upon  this  subject:  How 
could  Eve,  upon  hearing  that  death  was  threatened  to  the  eat- 
ing of  the  forbidden  tree,  have  any  notion  of  what  could  be 
meant  by  dying,^  having  neither  seen  nor  felt  a«y  thing  like 
it?  Our  author  seems  to  think,  that  our  first  parents  could 
liavc  no  ideas  of  death  at  all,  if  they  had  not  such  sentiments 
as  time  and  experience  enabled  them  to  form,  and  which  they 

5  Quo  (lie  comecletis  moriemini — Mori !  Quid  hoc  rei  est  inquit  ignara  vW^o, 
qu3e  nihil  unquam  mortuum  viderat,  ne  florem  quidem,  neque  mortis  imapi 
nem,  somnum,  vcl  noctcrn,  oculis  vcl  aninio  adhuc  senserat,  Burnet,  A;- 
chxo).  p.291. 


CHAP.  II.  FALL  OF  MAN.  75 

had  gradually  more  and  more  enlarged.  Whereas  nothing 
can  be  more  obvious,  than  that  if  upon  hearing  what  God 
threatened,  namely,  that  they  should  die,  God  caused  them  to 
apprehend  that  they  should  cease  to  be,  though  they  could  in 
nowise  conceive  the  manner  hoiv ;  a  general  notion  of  this 
sort  might  have  been  sufficient  for  them.  Their  first  idea  of 
dying  was,  undoubtedly,  not  the  image  which  they  after- 
wards came  to  have  of  it,  when  they  slew  their  first  sacrifice. 
And  their  idea  of  death  became  afterwards  farther  augmented 
with  new  terrors,  when  the  murder  of  their  son  Abel,  by 
Cain,  showed  them  more  plainly  how  it  would  affect  them  in 
their  own  persons.  Many  incidents,  also,  probably  occa- 
sioned their  additional  observations  and  reflections  concern- 
ing it;  although  as  we  cannot,  so  neither  could  they,  have 
their  idea  of  death  full  and  complete,  until  they  had  gone 
through  their  own  dissolution.  But,  as  in  this  one  instance, 
so  in  all  others,  the  sentiments  which  God  was  pleased  to 
raise  in  the  minds  of  our  first  parents  of  the  things  he  spake 
to  them,  were  no  more  than  as  it  were  their  first  and  unim- 
proved notions  of  those  things ;  God  did  not  cause  them  to 
think  of  them  in  that  extent  and  variety  of  conception,  which 
they  came  afterwards  to  have,  as  their  thoughts  enlarged  by 
a  farther  acquaintance  with  the  things  spoken  of,  and  with 
other  things  from  which  they  distinguished,  or  with  which 
they  compared  them.  In  and  from  the  words,  which  God 
was  pleased  to  speak  to  them,  he  gave  them  some  plain  and 
obvious  sentiments,  which  were  the  first  beginnings  of  the 
thoughts  of  their  lives;  conceptions  which  grew  gradually, 
and  produtsed  others  more  enlarged  and  diversified,  as  they 
grew  more  and  more  acquainted  with  themselves  and  the 
things  of  the  world. 

It  may  here  be  considered,  whether  God  w^as  pleased  to 
give  Adam  and  Eve  to  understand  all  the  words  of  some  one 
language,  so  that  they  immediately  conceived  whatever  was 
said  to  them  in  that  particular  tongue.  Many  have  supposed, 
that  God  endowed  them  with  both  speaking  and  understand- 
ing some  innate  language  ;  but  I  confess  I  cannot  see  sufficient 
reasons  for  this  sentiment,  as  I  have  suggested  in  another 
place.*"  The  author  of  Ecclesiasticus,  indeed,  tells  us  of  our 
first  parents,  that  they  received  the  use  of  the  Jive  operations 
of  the  Lord  :  and  in  the  sixth  place  he  imparted  to  them 
understanding,  and  in  the  seventh  speech,  an  interpre- 
ter of  the  cogitations  thereof.'  But  we  shall  hastily  go 
beyond  the  true  sentiment  of  this  considerate  writer,  if 
we  conclude  from  it,  that  God  instantly  gave  Adam  every 
word  he  was  to  introduce  into  his  language,  or  gave  him 
instantly  to  understand  every  word  of  that  language  in  which 
God    spake,   by    whomsoever  any  word    of  it   might  have 

«  See  Connect,  vol.  i,  b.  iL  r  Ecclesiasticus  xvii,  5. 


76  THE  CHEAT  ION  AxND  CHAP.  lU 

been  spoken  to  him.  The  author  of  Ecclesiasticus  does  in- 
deed declare,  that  the  speech  of  man  is  the  gift  of  God;  but  in 
like  manner  he  represents,  that  the  perception  of  man  by  his 
live  senses,  and  the  judgment  of  man  by  his  understanding,  is 
so  too;^  not  meaning,  that  in  giving  man  speech,  God  actually 
gave  him  every  word  he  was  to  utter,  any  more  than  that,  io 
giving  him  the  Jive  operations  of  his  senses,  or  in  giving  him 
xmder standing,  God  planted  innate  in  him  every  idea  which 
his  senses  were  to  raise;  or  actually  formed  in  his  mind  every 
sentiment  of  his  judgment  and  understanding,  respecting 
those  things  which  he  perceived.  Ratl^r,  in  all  these  cases, 
God  gave  only  a  capacity  or  ability;  in  tfie  one,  he  made  man 
capable  of  sensations  of  things  without  him ;  in  the  other,  able 
to  form  a  judgment  of  the  things  perceived,  and  in  language 
capable  of  uttering  sounds,  and  of  judging  from  what  he  had 
heard  from  the  voice  of  God,  how  he  might  make  his  own 
sounds  significant  to  himself,  and  in  time  to  others,  to  intend 
what  he  might  fix  and  design  by  each  sound  to  point  out  and 
denominate.  In  this  manner  Adam  and  Eve  might  form  for 
themselves  all  the  words  of  their  language,  beside  those  few 
which  had  actually  been  spoken  to  them  by  the  voice  of  God. 
Their  immediately  understanding  these  was  unquestionably 
from  him  who  spake  to  them  •?  but  because  they  were  instantly 
enabled  by  the  power  of  God,  who  could  affect  their  minds 
as  he  pleased,  to  understand  each  word  that  proceeded  from 
the  mouth  of  God  (for  otherwise  they  could  not  have  been 
instructed  by  God's  speaking  to  them  ;)  it  does  not,  there- 
fore, follow,  that  they  should  as  readily  understand  all  the 
words  of  some  one  whole  tongue.  • 

Some  writers,  indeed,  represent  Adam  as  abounding  in 
great  fluency  of  speech,  pouring  forth  the  fulness  of  his  heart 
in  most  eloquent  soliloquies,  as  soon  as  he  perceived  he  was 
in  being ;^  but  a  considerate  inquirer  will  think  this  very  un- 
natural. Adam,  though  created  a  man,  not  in  the  imbecility 
of  infancy  and  childhood,  cannot  be  supposed  to  have  had  a 
mind  stored  with  ideas  (and  without  these,  what  could  be  his 
thoughts?)  before  he  attained  them  by  sensations  from  with- 
out, or  reflections  upon  his  perceptions  within  :  and  slwll  we 
think,  that  he  had  words  upon  his  tongue  sooner  or  faster 
than  he  acquired  sentiments  ?  Moses  introduces  Adam  into 
the  world  in  a  manner  far  more  natural:  whatever  Adam 
heard  and  understood  from  the  voice  of  God,  Moses  does  not 
hint,  that  he  attempted  to  speak  a  word,  until  God  called  him 
to  try  to  name  the  creatures  -^  so  that  here  we  find  the  first 
attempt  Adam  made  to  speak.  We  perceive  likewise  the 
manner  and  the  process  of  it ;  for  God,  we  are  told,  brought 


s  Fxclesiaslicus  x\ii,  5. 

I   Sec  Milton's  I'aradise  Lost,  b. 

*  (len,  iiy  see  to  ver.  19. 


CHAP.  II.  FALL  OF  MAN.  77 

the  beasts  of  the  field,  and  the  fowls  of  the  air,^  unto  Adam, 
to  see  lohat  he  ivould  call  them :  and  whatsoever  Adam 
called  every  living  creature,  that  was  the  name  thereof.^ 
After  Adam  had  been  called  to  this  trial,  we  find  him  able 
also  to  give  a  name  to  the  woman. ^  But  before  this  trial  we 
read  nothing  that  can  induce  us  to  think  that  he  attempted  to 
speak  at  all ;  rather,  an  attention  to  what  was  said  to  him  by 
the  voice  of  God  entirely  engrossed  him.  God  brought  to 
Adam  the  creatures,  to  see  ivhai  he  ivould  call  them :  i.  c. 
to  put  Adam  upon  considering  how  to  name  them.  But  how 
superfluous  a  thing  would  this  have  been,  if  Adam  had  had 
an  innate  word  for  every  creature  that  was  to  be  named  by 
him  ?  Whenever  he  saw  a  thing,  the  innate  name  for  it 
would  have  readily  offered  itself  without  trial ;  he  must  have 
had  that  name  for  it,  and  he  could  have  had  no  other.  But 
the  text  plainly  supposes  that  Adam,  in  naming  the  creatures, 
had  been  more  at  liberty;  whatsoever  Jldain  named  every 
living  creatiire,  that  was  the  name  thereof.  He  might  have 
called  them  by  other  names  than  he  did  ;  he  might  have  fixed 
this  or  that  sound,  just  as  he  inclined  to  call  this  or  that  crea- 
ture, and  therefore  had  no  innate  names  for  any  ;  but,  having 
determined  with  himself  what  sound  to  use  for  the  name  of 
one,  and  what  for  another,  God  Almighty  herein  not  inter- 
posing, he  was  left  to  himself,  and  so  fixed  what  he  deter- 
mined for  the  name  of  each.     But, 

I  must  confess,  that  an  incident  which  follows  may  require 
our  examination  before  we  dismiss  this  point.  If  we  consider 
how  Eve  was  aftected  when  the  serpent  spake  to  her,*'  we  see 
no  reason  to  think  she  had  any  difficulty  in  understanding  any 
part  of  what  was  said  to  her.  She  as  readily  took  the  mean- 
ing of  what  the  serpent  expressed  to  her,  as  either  she  or 
Adam  had  before  apprehended  what  had  been  spoken  to  them 
by  the  voice  of  God.  God  doth  knotv,  said  the  serpent,  that 
in  the  day  that  ye  eat  thereof,  then  your  eyes  shall  be 
opened,  and  ye  shall  be  as  gods,  knoiving  good  and  evil.'' 
God  had  said  nothing  to  them  concerning  their  e)'-es  being 
opened,  nor  their  being  as  gods  ;  and  therefore,  if  they  had 
no  farther  knowledge  of  the  meaning  of  words,  than  of  those 
only  which  the  voice  of  God  had  spoken  to  them,  here  seem 
to  have  been  sounds  never  before  heard  by  them,  and  how 
could  these  be  so  readily  received  and  apprehended  ?  We  can 
in  nowise  suppose  that  the  serpent  had  God's  power  to  make 
his  words  instantly  as  intelligible  to  Eve  as  he  pleased. 

And  it  will  increase  the  difficulty,  if  we  should  consider 
the  words  here  spoken  as  bearing  not  a  plain  but  a  metapho- 
rical meaning.     Their  eyes  were  to  be  opened  ;  /.  e.  say  some, 

^  The  fact  here  related  will  be  more  distinctly  considered  chap.  \.\. 
<  Gen.  ii,  19.  s  Ver.  23. 

6  Chap.  iii.  7  Vei._  5  * 

Vol.  IV.  L     ' 


78  THE  CREATION  AND  CHAP.  II. 

their  understandings  were  to  be  enlarged ;  opeii  thou  ?7iine 
eyes,  said  the  Psahnist,  and  I  shall  see  wondrous  things  from 
thy  law.^  The  Psalmist  here  prays  for  what  he  elsewhere 
expresses  in  words  without  the  figure,  that  God,  through  his 
commandments,  would  make  him  wiser,  would  give  him 
more  understanding  than  he  should  have  had  without  them.' 
And  it  may  seem  that,  according  to  Moses,  the  event  of  their 
eyes  being  opened  was,  they  knew  they  were  naked ;^  they 
had  knowledge  of  themselves,  d liferent  from  what  they  had 
before;  so  that  we  may  perhaps  think,  that  Moses  here  used 
the  eye  of  the  body  metaphorically  for  the  sense  of  the  under- 
standing, intending  by  the  opening  of  the  one  the  increase  of 
the  judgment  of  the  other.  Now,  if  this  was  the  meaning 
of  the  words  of  the  serpent  to  Eve,  and  if  Eve  thus  under- 
stood them,  we  cannot  conceive  that  she  had  been  at  this  time 
a  mere  novice  in  language,  just  beginning  to  form  first  no- 
tions of  a  few  original  and  plain  words.  We  must  rather 
think  her  an  adept  in  the  tongue  which  the  serpent  used,  that 
she  had  a  ready  conception  of  all  the  elegance  of  its  diction  ; 
could  give  its  metaphors  and  figurative  expression  their  true 
meaning ;  could  receive  and  feel  their  full  and  real  import. 
But  to  all  this  I  answer  : 

1.  There  was  no  metaphor  intended  by  Moses  in  the  words 
in  which  he  has  expressed  what  the  serpent  said  to  Eve.  The 
diction  of  the  Psalmist  is  indeed  figurative,  open  thou  mine 
eyes,  and  I  shall  see  wondrous  things  from  thy  law -^  but 
the  word  used  for  ojien  is  not  the  same  with  that  of  JSIoses : 
y)f  ^\  [gal  nainai]  says  the  Psalmist:  the  word  here  used  is  a 
termination  of  the  verb  galah:  but  Moses  expresses  the  ser- 
pent's words  to  Eve,  your  eyes  shall  be  opened,  rDyy-j  inpiJi 
[niphkechu  neineicem  :]^  Moses's  word  for  shall  be  opened 
is  a  termination  of  the  verb  pakach.  The  Hebrew  language 
has  both  these  verbs,  and  we  render  both  by  the  word  open  ; 
but  the  one  only,  namely  galah,  speaks  in  the  metaphorical 
sense ;  means  by  opening  the  eye  instructing  the  understand- 
ing, either  by  our  forming  a  better  judgment  of  things,  or 
when  God  by  vision,  or  in  any  other  manner,  was  pleased  to 
give  an  extraordinary  revelation.'*  Pakach  nain  signifies  no 
more  than  to  see,  what  is  the  object  of  the  natural  eye  ;*  and 
to  this  meaning  it  is  confined  so  strictly,  that  although  jwa^Y/c/i 
nain  is  sometimes  said  of  God,  when  he  is  spoken  of  after 
the  manner  of  men ;  yet  it  is  used  only  where  God  is  said  to 
look  upon  such  outward  actions  as  can  come  under  the  obser- 
vation of  the  eye  f  wherever  God  is  said  to  regard  what  can 


8  Psalm  cxix,  18.  »  Ver.  98,  99, 

1  Gen,  iii,  7.  ^  Psalm  cxix,  ubi  sup. 

'  Gen.  iii,  5.  *  See  Numb,  xxiv,  4. 

5  Gen.  xxi,  9;  2  Kings  iv,  35;  vi,  17,  20  ;   Prov,  xx,  13, 
*  See  2  Kings  six,  16;  Isa.  xxxvii,  17;   Dsin.  ix,  18,  &c. 


CHAP.  II.  FALL  OF  MAN.  79 

be  matter  of  the  attention  of  the  mind  only,  the  expression 
pakach  nciin  is,  I  think,  not  used. 

Pakach  nain,  therefore,  carries  the  intention  no  farther 
than  to  the  outward  sight ;  signifies  no  more  than  to  open  the 
eye  of  the  body :  I  might  say,  it  has  such  a  propriety  to  ex- 
press this,  and  this  only,  that  zs  facere  in  Latin  may  be  put, 
as  it  were,  idiomatically  for  to  sacrifice, 

Cum  faciam  vimla 

Vino. 

SO  a  participle  of  the  verb  pakach,  without  nain  (the  word 
for  eye)  after  it,  may  be  used  in  the  Hebrew  language  for  one 
who  has  his  eye-sight,  in  opposition  to  the  being  blind  ;^  so 
that  we  use  Hebrew  words,  not  in  their  Hebrew  or  true 
meaning,  if  we  take  Moses,  by  the  words  he  has  used,  to  in- 
tend that  the  serpent  had  herein  said  any  thing  referring  far- 
ther than  to  their  natural  ej^e.     But,^ 

2.  Let  us  observe,  that  in  what  the  serpent  said  to  Eve,  he 
was  for  the  greater  part  confined  to  use  the  very  words,  and 
none  other,  than  what  both  Eve  and  Adam  had  heard  and  un- 
derstood from  the  voice  of  God  ;  and  therefore  all  these  she 
readily  understood  as  she  had  before  heard  and  understood 
them.  Accordingly,  there  could  be  nothing  in  the  serpent's 
first  address  to  Eve,  Yea,  hath  God  said.  Ye  shall  not  eat 
of  every  tree  of  the  garden  ?'^  but  what  she  must  have  readily 
understood  from  God's  having  said,  Of  every  tree  of  the 
garden  ye  may  freely  eat  ;^  only  we  may  remark,  though 
Moses  has  in  divers  places  historically  called  God,  Elohim,^ 
yet  that  God  not  having  as  yet  so  named  himself  to  her  and 
Adam,  the  word  Elohim,  God,  might  not  have  been  heard 
by  Eve  before  the  serpent  spake  it  to  her.  But,  if  this  was 
in  fact  true,  as  there  was  no  other  person  but  one,  who  had 
spoken  before  this  to  her  or  Adam,  there  could  be  no  confu- 
sion in  her  hearing  the  serpent  call  him  Elohim,  God;  she 
must  readily  understand  whom  he  intended  by  that  name.  To 
go  on :  The  serpent's  next  words.  Ye  shall  not  surely  die^ 
must  instantly,  when  spoken,  be  sufficiently  understood,  from 


'  Exod.  iv,  11 ;  xxiii,  8. 

s  It  may  perh:ips  be  here  qiiest'ioned,  whether  the  words  in  this  place  used 
by  Moses  were  the  very  words  spoken  by  the  serpent  ?  Indeed  I  apprehend 
they  were  not,  as  1  do  not  conceive  that  Moses's  Hebrew  was  the  original  un- 
improved language  of  the  world.  See  Connect,  vol.  i,  b.  il.  But  as  we  have 
all  reason,  whetlier  we  conceive  Moses  to  have  written  by  an  immediate  in- 
spiration ;  or  whether,  under  a  divine  direction,  he  wrote  from  ancient  me- 
moirs of  his  forefathers,  which  were  recorded  in  an  older  and  perhaps  then 
obsolete  diction  ;  weTnay  and  ought  to  allow,  that  he  expi-essed  in  the  lan- 
gtiage  of  his  own  times,  with  a  strict  propriety,  what  the  sei-pent  hud  spoken 
in  words  of  tlie  same  meaning,  though  probably  of  a  more  antique  form, 
construction,  and  pronunciation. 

9  Gen.  iii,  1.  '  Chap,  ii,  16. 

-  See  Chap,  i,  and  ii.  "•  Chap,  iii,  4. 


80  THE  CREATION  AND  CHAP.  II. 

her  having  understood  what  God  had  said  before,  Ve  shall 
surely  die;'*  as  any  one  that  understands  a  proposition  af- 
firmed, must  understand  the  denial  of  that  same  proposition. 
The  serpent  proceeded,  /o?^  God  dol/i  k?ioiv,  (ha I  in  the  day 
that  yc  eat  thereof,  then  your  eyes  shall  he  opened,  and  ye 
shall  be  as  gods  [ce  Elohini] — as  God,  knowing  good  a)id  evil. 
Here  I  would  observe,  that  in  the  day  that  ye  eat  thereof, 
had  been  before  said  to  them  from  the  mouth  of  God,*  and 
that  God  had  called  the  tree,  the  tree  of  the  knowledge  of 
good  and  evil  f  and  therefore  from  what  God  had  in  these 
words  said  to  them,  all  the  sentiment  she  had  of  knowing, 
and  of  knowing  good  and  evil,  may  be  conceived  to  arise 
upon  the  serpent  speaking  to  her  in  these  like  terms.  The 
serpent  told  her  they  should  be  as  gods ;  we  render  it  in  the 
plural  number,  but  not  rightly;  for  it  is  not  reasonable  to 
imagine  the  serpent  intimated  to  her  herein,  that  there  were 
spiritual  beings,  many  in  number  in  the  invisible  world  ;  this 
did  not  as  yet  enter  her  imagination.  She  and  Adam  had 
heard  only  one  who  spake  to  them;  the  serpent  had  told  Eve 
that  this  person  was  Elohim  ;^  he  here  tells  her,  that  if  they 
eat  of  tl'.e  tree,  they  should  increase  in  knov\iedge  of  good 
and  evil,  be  ce  Elohim,  like  him:  and  herein,  as  far  as  they 
had  any  notions  of  what  knowledge  was,  nothing  unintelli- 
gible was  proposed  to  her. 

There  remains  still  to  be  considered,  what  she  expected 
from  what  seemed  to  be  promised  in  the  words,  your  eyes 
shall  be  ojjened.  But  I  may  fully  answer  this  in  three  or 
four  observations.  1.  I  have  already  said,  that  these  words 
have  no  reference  to  the  improvement  of  the  knowledge  of 
the  mind.  What  the  tempter  offered  concerning  that  came 
afterwards  under  the  words  Ve  shall  be  as  God,  knoicing 
good  and  evil.  The  words  concerning  their  eyes  being 
opened  are  such,  that,  according  to  the  Hebrew  idiom,  they 
speak  no  more  than  some  enlargement  of  their  outward  sight. 
2.  I  would  remark,  that  it  cannot  i)e  necessary  to  say,  that 
Eve  had  an  adequate  and  full  notion  of  the  true  meaning  of 
these  words.  The  writers,  that  would  puzzle  and  perplex  this 
matter,  contend,  that  the  fall  happened  immediately  after  the 
creation;  but  we  can  in  nowise  find  any  one  reason  for  such  an 
assertion.  Rather,  I  apprehend,  we  shall  see  what  may  in- 
duce us  to  think  that  several  days  intervened  between  the 
Sabbath  after^  the  day  of  Adam  and  Eve's  creation,  and  the 


•>  Gen.  li,  17.  ■'  Ibid. 

«  Ibid.  ■  Chap,  iii,  1, 

6  See  hercifter,  S>ncirius  cites  ihc  Asxra  Ti/iTiac  to  say,  tliat  Adam  was 
guilty  of  the  transgression  in  liis  seventii  year,  and  expelled  Paradise  in  his 
eighth.  Syncelli  Clironogr.  p.  8.  \Vli;.t  tlie  Minutes  of  Genesis  here  cited 
were  I  cannot  say,  nor  by  wliom  made;  their  authority  can  avail  only  to  hint, 
that  tliere  have  been  ancient  writers  who  did  not  tliink  the  i'all  had  been  so  in- 
stantaneous as  others  have  sinco  imagined. 


CHAP.  II.  FALL  OF  MAN.  81 

day  on  whicli  the  serpent  tempted  Eve.  On  the  niglit  of 
each  of  these  days,  Adam  and  Eve,  in  the  course  of  nature, 
had  known  what  sleep  was,  and  how  it  differed  from  the  be- 
ing awake,  and  therefrom  what  it  was  to  shut  the  eye,  and 
what  it  was  to  open  it;  and  probably  had  made  themselves, 
before  the  serpent  spake  to  Eve,  a  name  for  the  one,  and  a 
name  for  the  other.  Therefore,  though  the  serpent  here  used 
words,  which  they  had  not  heard  from  the  mouth  of  God,  yet 
he  might  not  herein  use  words  which  they  had  not  agreed  to 
make,  and  had  daily  spoken  to  and  heard  from  themselves, 
and  consequently  were  woi'ds  that  were  not  without  meaning. 
I  do  not  say  that  Adam  or  Eve,  at  hearing  these  words,  con- 
ceived exactly  the  event  wliich  alterwards  came  to  pass;  for 
it  is  easy  to  observe,  that  we  may  be  said  to  know  the  gene- 
ral meaning  of  words,  sufficiently  to  give  us  expectations  from 
them,  and  yet  not  be  able  determinately  to  see  their  full  ex- 
tent and  import.  Every  one,  that  has  a  common  understand- 
ing of  the  Greek  tongue,  would,  upon  reading  the  philosopher, 

xaOapfiot  '^vxiji  Xoyix'^j    ii(3i,   ai   ixaOrniaiixat  irti^^rnia'i^    apprehend 

that  these  studies  may  greatly  improve  us,  as  the  English 
reader  may,  from  no  better  translation  of  the  words  than,  iJie 
mathematics  are  purgations  of  the  reasonable  mind:  but 
the  particular  improvement  to  be  obtained  from  them  would 
not  hence  be  known  to  any,  who  had  not  experienced  the  ha- 
bit, w^hich  may  be  acquired  from  these  studies,  of  pursuing  a 
long  train  of  ideas  variously  intermingled,  so  as  to  see  through 
all  the  steps  which  truly  lead  to  the  most  distant  conclusions. 
Whether  Eve,  well  knowing  from  many  days'  experience, 
wherein  the  opening  the  eye  differed  from  shutting  it, 
thought,  that  after  eating  the  fruit  she  should  never  more 
slumber  nor  sleep;  or  whether  she  conceived  such  an  addition 
to  their  sight,  as  that  they  might  thenceforth  be  able  to  see 
Him,  whom  hitherto  they  had  heard  only,  without  his  being 
visible  to  them,^  I  cannot  say;  but  we  may  conceive,  that  she 
had  formed  to  herself  great  expectations,  without  reaching  the 
full  meaning  of  the  words,  much  less  apprehending  what 
proved  in  reality  to  be  the  event.  Upon  the  whole :  when 
God  was  pleased  to  speak  to  Adam  and  Eve,  as  they  had  not 
before  heard  words,  we  cannot  conceive,  that  they  could  have 
understood  what  the  voice  of  God  spake,  unless  God  had 
caused  them  to  understand  the  words  spoken.  But  allow^ing 
that  God  enabled  them  to  perceive  what  he  thought  fit  to  say, 
and  duly  attending  to  what  Moses  relates  farther;  we  may 
conclude,  that  nothing  more  was  said  to  them,  or  that  they 
hurried  into  the  world,  or  the  things  of  the  world  broke  in 
upon  them,  faster,  or  in  a  greater  variety,  than  they  could 


8  Hierocles  in  aurea  Carmina  Pythac;'. 

»  No  divine  appearance  is  recorded  to  have  been  seen  before  the  days  of 
Abraham.    See  Connect,  b,  ix. 


CHAP.  II.  THE  CREATIOX,  kc.  82 

form  to  themselves  words,  to  talk  of,  and  to  know  distinctly, 
as  far  as  tlieir  knowledge  did,  or  it  was  necessary  it  should 
then  reach,  the  things  they  had  to  hear  or  to  speak,  to  be  con- 
cerned in,  or  affected  with  in  their  lives.  Therefore  no  more 
being  necessary  for  them,  than  that  God  should  cause  them 
so  to  understand  what  lie  thought  fit  to  speak  to  them;  we 
justly  conclude,  that,  respecting  making  other  words,  and 
settling  the  meaning  and  intention  of  them,  he  left  our  first 
parents  to  do  what  he  had  given  them  full  powers  and  oppor- 
tunity to  do  in  a  natural  way  for  themselves,  unto  which  Gor> 
was  pleased  to  lead  Adam,  as  far  as  he  herein  wanted  guidance 
and  direction,  in  the  manner  which  shall  be  set  forth  in  the 
ensuing  cliaptcr. 


CHAPTER  in. 


.1  Consideration  of  the  particular  Manner  in  which 
God  was  pleased  to  lead  Adam  to  name  the  living 
Creatures  of  the  World. 

THE  fact,  concerning  which  I  am  to  inquire  in  this  chap- 
ter, is  thus  related  by  Moses :  Out  of  the  ground  the  Lord 
Gon  formed  every  beast  of  the  field,  and  every  fowl  of  the 
air,  and  brought  them  unto  Adar}i,  to  see  what  he  would 
call  them;  and  whatsoever  Adam  called  every  living  crea- 
ture, that  was  the  name  thereof:  and  Adam  gave  names  to 
all  cattle,  and  to  the  fowl  of  the  air,  and  to  every  beast  of 
the  field}  To  form  a  right  judgment  of  what  is  here  said  to 
be  done,  we  must  not  too  hastily  rest  satisfied  with  our  En- 
glish version  of  Moses's  words ;  but  inquire  more  strictly 
into  his  text,  and  examine  how  he  relates  this  matter. 

The  words  of  Moses  are, 

Vejitzer  Jehovah  Elohim  min  ha  Adamah  col  chajath  hassedah, 

veseth  Col  Noph  hashemaim,  vejabea  ?el  ha  Adam 

lireoth  mah  jikrah  lo  :  Ve  col  asher  jikra  lo  lia  Adam  (nepesh  chajali^ 

huaShemo:  vejikra  ha  Adam  Shemoth  lecol  habeshema 

ve  lenoph  has  Shemaim  ve  lecol  chajath  hassedah.- 

The  passage,  verbally  translated,  is  as  follows  : 

And  the  Lord  God  formed  out  of  the  ground  every  beast 
of  the  field,  and  every  fowl  of  the  heavens,  and  he  brought 

J  Gea.  ii,  19,  20. 

^  The  Hebrew  words  are,  and  may  be  written  and  interlined  as  follows : — 

agri  animal   omne  humo  ex    Deus   Dominus  et  formavit 

Adamum  ad  et  adduxit  Cffilorum  volatile  omne  ac  etiam 

vivens  animal  ipse  Adam  illi  noraen  dedit  quod  et  omne  daret  illi  nomen  quid  ad  videndum 

nnnan    '73'?     niDC        rnxn        N-.pM:      \D-<ff        Nn 
bestiffi  omni  nomina  ipse  Adam  et  edixit  nomen  ejus  hoc 

agri  animali  et  omni  cgclorum  et  volatili 


84  THE  CREATION  AND  CIIAP.  III. 

nnio  Adam  to  sec  what  he  ivould  call  it.  And  ivhatsoever 
Adam  called  it  {the  living  creature,)  that  was  the  name 
of  IT.  And  Adam  gave  names  to  every  living  creature, 
and  to  the  foiuls  of  the  heavens,  and  to  every  beast  of  the 
field. 

It  is  observable,  that  the  first  period  of  this  passage, 
namely,  and  the  Lord  Gow  formed  out  of  the  ground  every 
beast  of  the  field,  and  every  fowl  of  the  heaven,  was  not 
intended  to  hint,  that  God,,  at  this  juncture,  created  any 
living  creatures  anew.  The  words  should  rather  have  been 
rendered  agreeably  to  the  translation  of  the  Syriac  version,^ 
the  Lord  God  had  formed — ;  for  they  are  not  a  relation  that 
God  had  now  made  them,  but  a  recognition  of  what  had  been 
before  related,  that  he  had  been  the  Creator  both  of  the  birds 
and  cattle;-*  none  of  which  were  made  at  this  time;  for  the 
one  were  created  a  day  sooner  than  Adam,*  the  other  on  the 
same  day,  but  earlier  and  before  him.^ 

In  like  manner,  the  words  which  begin  the  20th  verse, 
and  Adam  gave  names  to  all  cattle,  and  to  the  foiul  of  the 
air,  and  to  every  beast  of  the  field,  do  not  mean,  that 
Adam  now,  at  this  one  time,  gave  names  to  all  living  crea- 
tures ;  but  are  rather  a  remark,  that  the  names  of  the  crea- 
tures were  given  by  Adam,  and  by  no  other.  He  himsell 
{ha  Adam,)  says  the  text,  named  them  ;  not  now,  all  at 
once,  which  undoubtedly  would  have  been  too  much  for  him  ; 
but  he  named  them  gradually,  some  at  one  time  and  some  at 
another,  in  the  process  of  his  life,  as  incidents  happened  to 
give  occasion  for  his  so  doing. 

That  the  fact  really  was  not  that  Adam  now  named  all  the 
creatures  is  evident,  from  the  very  express  words  of  JNIoses, 
which  relate  the  particular  we  are  examining.  The  words  of 
Moses  are.  And  the  Lord  God  brought  unto  Adam,  to  see 
what  he  would  call  it  ;'  and  whatsoever  Adam  called  it, 
the  living  creature,^  that  was  the  name  of  it.^  The  ques- 
tion here  is,  what  did  God  bring  unto  the  man  ?  Our  English 
version,  following  other  translations,  says  thein ;  i.e.  every 
beast  of  the  field,  and  every  fowl  of  the  air,  for  these  are  the 
words  to  which  them  must  refer.  But  we  should  observe, 
that  the  word  them  is  not  in  the  Hebrew  text :  according  to 
Moses,  the  name  given  by  Adam  was  i'?  (lo,)  i.  c.  to  it ;  the 
pronoun  being  of  the  singular  number,  not  plural ;  which  the 


3  Compegerat  autem  Dnminus  Deus  dc  Immo  omncin  bcstiam.  Vide  Walt. 
Polvglott.  Syr.  Vers,  in  loc. 

"'Sec  Gen.  i.  s  chap,  i,  20.  ^  Ver.  24,  25. 

"  JAreoth  muh  jikra  lo.     Gen.  ii,  19. 

*   Ve  col  usher  jikrci  lo  ha  Adam  nephesh  cluijaih  hiia  shc7no.     Ibid. 

9  Una  shemo.  Ibid.  The  Samaritan  text'  is  rendered  more  strictly  to  the 
Hebrew  words  in  the  Latin  transbtion  of  it  in  our  Polyglot  Bible,  thus  •. 
"  Adduxitque  ad  Adam,  tit  videret,  qiiomodo  vocuret  illuci :  ct  omne  qnod 
v'icaret  illud  Adam  animx  viventis  hoc  est  noinen  ejus." 


CHAP.  III.  FALL  OF  MAN.  85 

next  sentence  expresses  more  fully ;  for  the  words  are  not  as 
we  render  the  text,  and  lohatsoever  Adam  called  every  living 
creature.  There  is  no  word  in  the  text  for  every :  the  He- 
brew words  say,  whatsoever  Adam  called  it,  the  living 
creature,  that  was  the  name  of,  not  them,  but  the  text  says 
that  was  the  name  of  it. 

Thus  the  fact  before  us  appears  to  be,  that  God  brought 
unto  Adam,  not  all  the  living  creatures,  for  the  text  says  no 
such  thing.  God  indeed  made  all  the  creatures,'  and  Moses 
here  recognizes  this  truth  ;  but  God  brought  unto  Adam  some 
one  creature  only,  a  nepesh  chajah  in  the  singular  number,^ 
to  see  what  he  would  call  it.  Adam  hereupon  gave  it  a  name; 
and  what  he  thus  called  it,  that  was  the  name  of  it.  God  was 
pleased  herein  to  bring  Adam  to  a  trial,  to  show  him  how  he 
might  use  sounds  of  his  own  to  be  the  names  of  things :  he 
called  him  to  give  a  name  to  one  creature,  and  hereby  put 
him  upon  seeing  how  words  might  be  made  for  this  purpose: 
Adam  understood  the  instruction,  and  practised  accordingly. 
For  so  Moses  tells  us  :  Adam,  gave  iiames  to  all  cattle,  and 
to  the  fowl  of  the  air,  and  to  every  beast  of  the  field.^ 
The  names  of  the  creatures  were  not  given  by  any  express 
words  from  the  voice  of  God;  but  were  of  Adam's  own 
making,  as  he  proceeded  to  use  sounds  of  his  own  to  be  the 
names  of  things  as  himself  designed  them.  God,  as  I  said, 
brought  Adam  to  name  one  creature ;  Adam  had  the  sense 
and  understanding  to  see  hereby,  how  he  might  make  words, 
and  make  use  of  them.  Accordingly,  in  the  progress  of  his 
life,  as  the  creatures  of  the  world  came  under  his  observation, 
he  used  this  ability,  and  gave  names  to  them  all. 

Now,  if  this  was  the  fact,  it  must,  I  think,  be  allowed, 
that  Adam  had,  as  I  have  already  observed,  no  formed,  fixed, 
and  innate  language.  If  he  had  such  a  language,  it  must 
surely  have  been  inost  superfluous  to  bring  him  to  this  trial, 
to  set  any  creature  before  him  to  see  what  he  would  call  it 
An  innate  language,  whenever  and  wherever  he  had  seen  any 
creature  or  thing  in  the  world,  would  have  instantly  given. 

1  Gen.  i. 

"•  See  tBe  text  of  Gen.  ii,  19.  I  should  have  some  difficulty  to  say,  why 
nepesh  chajah  is  not  lenepesh  chajnh,  in  the  dative  case ;  as  I  think,  nepesh 
standing  after  and  referring  to  lo,  the  construction  should  require.  But  I 
would  offer  to  the  consideration  of  the  learned,  whether,  if  in  the  ancient 
manuscript  this  text  was  written  in  lines  ending  witii  the  words  which  I  have 
made  the  final  words  of  the  several  lines,  as  I  have  before  transcribed  them, 
riepesA  c/ia/aA  might  not  be  so  situated  at  the  end  of  a  line,  as  that  a  copyist 
might  mistake,  and  put  it  to  tlie  end  of  the  third  line,  when  it  really  should 
be  at  the  end  of  the  second.  If  this  may  be  supposed,  the  words  of  Moses 
are  exceeding  clear,  being  exactly  as  follows  : 

And  the  Lord  God  had  formed  of  the  ground  every  beast  of  the  field, 
j»nd  every  fowl  of  the  heavens,  and  brought  unto  Adam  a  liviq^creature, 
to  see  what  ri!«iie  he  would  give  to  it.    And  wh.atsoever  name  Adam  gave  it, 
that  was  the  name  of  it,  &c. 

3  Gen.  11,  20. 

Vol.  IV.  M 


86  THE  CREATION  AND  CHAP.  Ill, 

him  its  innate  name.  No  trial  could  have  heen  wanted  to  lead 
him  to  it,  for  this  name  would,  as  it  were,  have  offered  itself; 
and  I  cannot  see  how  he  should  have  thought  of  any  other. 
But  Moses  seems  in  nowise  to  represent  Adam  under  these 
limitations ;  a  creature  was  hrought  to  him  to  see  what  he 
would  call  it;  and  there  is  not  the  least  hint,  that  he  was  so 
much  as  directed  what  to  call  it:  for  [ha  Jldani)  Adam  him- 
self named  all  the  creatures."*  We  have  no  reason  to  think, 
that  God  dictated  the  name  of  any  ;  and  the  expressions  of 
Moses  hint,  that  Adam  had  all  possible  liberty  to  name  them 
as  his  own  imagination  should  lead  him.  It  seems,  that  nothing 
had  been  herein  fixed  or  determined  for  him;  but  he  called 
every  thing  by  what  name  he  pleased,  and  whatsoever  name 
he  fixed  and  determined  for  any  creature,  that  was  the  name 
thereof. 

Our  Bibles  close  the  20th  verse  of  the  second  chapter  of 
Genesis  with  these  words ;  hut  for  Adam  there  ivas  not 
found  a  help  meet  for  him.  The  adding  these  words  to  the 
end  of  this  20th  verse  may  seem  to  represent,  that  in  the 
transaction  ending  with  this  observation  there  had  been,  un- 
doubtedly, a  survey  taken  of  all  the  creatures  in  the  world, 
to  have  it  seen  that  none  of  them  were  fit  to  be  Adam's  asso- 
ciate, and  consequently  that  all  the  creatures  had  been  con- 
vened for  Adam  to  name  them.  I  believe  our  translators  had 
this  sentiment,  and  they,  who  divided  the  Bible  into  verses, 
were  probably  of  the  same  opinion.  This  thought  may  easily 
take  the  unwary,  though  I  am  surprised  that  the  difficulty  of 
conceiving  how  it  could  be  has  not  occasioned  a  more  strict 
examination.  However,  as  I  have  shown  that  Moses's  text 
says  no  such  thing,  I  may  as  clearly  prove,  that  in  the  words 
of  Moses,  which  we  improperly  add  to  the  20th  verse,  no 
such  insinuation  was  really  intended. 

For,  1.  These  words,  but  for  Adam  there  luas  not  found 
a  help  meet  for  him,,  ought  not  to  have  been  made  a  part  of 
the  20th  verse,  because  they  are  the  beginning  of  the  rela- 
tion of  a  new  transaction,  and  having  no  reference  to  any 
thing  going  before,  they  should  have  begun  a  new  period,  ab- 
solutely independent  of,  and  detached  from  the  .former. 
Agreeably  hereto  we  may  observe,  2.  That  the  particle  ^  (ve,) 
which  we  here  translate  but,  ought  to  be  in  this  place  ren- 
dered an  K  It  is  often  so  rendered  in  the  first  and  in  this 
second  chapter  of  Genesis  :  it  is  not  here  a  discretive  particle, 
disjoining  and  distinguishing  two  parts  of  one  period;  but 
the  particle  often  used  by  Moses  when,  having  finished  his 
narration  of  one  fact,  he  passes  on  from  that  to  quite  another.' 
3.  If  we  suppose,  that  the  words  above  cited  belong  to  the 
20th  vcrse,^vc  shall  find  it  difficult  to  make  out  their  gram- 
matical conmuction ;  it  will  be  difficult  to  ascertain  a  nomi- 

*  Gen.  ii,  20  6  Gen.  i,  6,  9,  14,  20,  &c.i  ii,  7, 15, 18,  20,  21. 


CHAP.  III.  FALL  OF  MAN.  87 

native  case  to  the  verb  found;  iox  the  word,  which  we  trans- 
late was  found,  is  not  passive,  as  we  render  it.  The  words 
are  Ni'D  n"?  (loa  matza,)  he  did  not  find,  in  the  active  voice  : 
and  the  nominative  case  to  this  verb  follows  after  the  next 
verb  in  the  next  verse,  and  is  Jehovah  Elohim,  the  Lokd 
God."  This  is  a  construction  very  clear  and  frequent  in  many- 
languages,  and  in  the  Hebrew  tongue  amongst  others ;  and 
our  translators  ought  to  have  been  carefully  attentive  to  it. 
4.  I  would  farther  observe,  that  the  Hebrew  verb  matza 
does  not  always  signify  to  find  a  thing  after  having  looked  for 
it;  but  when  used  with  a  noun  to  which  S  is  prefixed,  it  makes 
an  idiom  of  the  Hebrew  tongue,  to  which  W6*have  something 
similar  in  a  particular  use  of  our  woxAfind  in  English.  Bux- 
torf  remarks,''  that  the  verb  matza,  with  a  dative  case  by  the 
prefix  le,  signifies  to  suffice;  I  should  rather  say,  sufficiently 
to  supply :  thus  Numbers  xi,  22,  Shall  the  flocks  and  the 
herds  be  slain  for  them?  CDn^  x:^di  (ve  matza  lehem,)  and 
will  it  suffice  them?  i.  e.  will  it  sufficiently  supply  them. 
Thus  again.  Judges  xxi,  14,  Jind  Benjamin  came  again  at 
that  time,  and  they  gave  them  ivives,  which  they  had  saved 
alive  of  the  women  of  Jabesh  Gilead :  but  the  Hebrew 
words  are  p  onb  iXi'D'xbi  (ve  loa  matzaeu  lehem  ken,)  and 
yet  so  they  sufficed  them  not,  they  did  not  sufficiently  sup- 
ply them  so.  I  would,  more  closely  to  the  Hebrew,  trans- 
late both  these  places  by  our  English  word  find.  Shall  the 
flocks  and  the  herds  be  slain  for  them  ?  I  should  say,  will  it 
find  them  ?  In  the  passage  in  the  Book  of  Numbers,  They 
gave  them  wives,  which  they  had  saved  alive  of  the  women 
of  Jabesh  Gilead,  but,  (I  should  render  the  place)  they  did 
not  find  them  so.  The  expression,  to  find  a  person,  is  still 
used  in  some  parts  of  England,  to  signify  to  supply  that  per- 
son with  such  things  as  we  undertake  to  procure  for  him  ; 
and  in  this  sense  I  take  the  word  matza  to  be  here  used  by 
Moses.  God  had  promised  to  find  Adam  with  a  person,  or 
helper,  that  should  be  his  likeness :  Moses,  now  going  to  re- 
late in  what  manner  God  made  this  person,  introduces  his 
narration  very  properly  with  observing,  that  God  had  not 
yet^  found  or  supplied  Adam  with  this  companion :  and  having 
suggested  this  observation,  he  proceeds  to  relate  in  what 
manner  God  now  supplied  him.  And  the  Lord  God  had  not 
supplied  or  found  the  man  with  the  help  meet  for  him:  but 
caused  a  deep  sleep  to  fall  upon  him,  Sj-c.^ 


■^  The  words  are,  Gen.  ii,  20, 

at  cadere  fecit  judicium  ejus  adjutorium  non  invenerat  et  hominl 

oiNn    V    nm-in    a>n'?N    mn"' 
Adamum  in  soporem  Deus  Jehovah 

*  Buxtorf,  in  voce  nxc-  *  Gen.  ii,  20.  '  Ver.  21. 


CHAPTER  IV. 


Concerning  the  Formation  of  Eve,  and  the  farther 
D^ansactions  of  Mamh  first  Day ;  together  with 
some  Observations  upon  the  whole. 

THE  account  given  by  Moses,  of  the  formation  of  Eve,  is 
In  words  as  follow  :  And  the  Lord  God  caused  a  deep  sleep 
to  fall  upon  Adam,  and  he  slept :  and  he  took  one  of  his 
ribs,  and  closed  up  the  flesh  instead  thereof:  and  the  rib, 
tvhich  the  Lord  God  had  taken  from  man,  made  he  a  wo- 
Tnan  and  brought  her  unto  the  man.  God  caused  a  deep 
sleep  to  fall  upon  Adam  :  the  Hebrew  word  for  a  deep 
sleep  is  nmin  [tardemah]  :  it  is  a  word  used  in  divers  places 
in  the  Old  Testament:  in  some  it  signifies  no  more  than  what 
we  in  English  call  a  sound  sleep ;  a  sleep  from  which  we 
awake,  not  having  dreamed,  or  been  sensible  of  any  thing 
that  has  passed  during  the  time  of  it.  It  is  thus  used  in  the 
Book  of  Proverbs;  slothfulness  casteth  into  a  deep  sleep :'^ 
and  more  emphatically  in  the  first  Book  of  Samuel,  where 
David  and  Abishai  went  by  night  into  Saul's  camp,  and  took 
away  the  spear  and  cruse  of  water  from  his  bolster,  without 
awaking  him  or  any  of  the  soldiery,  that  lay  asleep  round 
about  him  f  for,  says  the  text,  tardemah  Jehovah,  a  deep 
sleep  of  or  from  the  Lord  was  fallen  upon  them;  hereby 
meaning,  that  they  were  in  a  most  exceeding  sound  sleep; 
so  sound,  that  we  might,  using  the  Hebrew  idiom,^  speak  as 


»  Prov.  six,  15.  2  1  Sam.  xxvi,  12. 

3  It  is  a  solemn,  but  not  unusual  expression  in  the  Hebrew  tongue,  to  say 
of  a  thing  beyond  measure  great,  that  it  is  of  the  Lokd  ;  not  always  meaning 
hereby,  that  God  himself  is  the  immediate  cause  of  it,  but  signifying  it  to  be 
iuch,  that  naturally  no  account  is  easy  to  be  given  of  it.  So  great  was  the 
hardness  of  Pharaoh's  heart,  that  God  is  thus  said  to  have  hardened  it,  though 
Pharaoh  really  hardened  his  own  heart.  Exod.  vii,  13,  22;  viii,  15,  19,  32; 
ix,  7,  34.  See  Connect,  book  ix.  Thus  it  is  said,  that  it  was  "of  the  Lord 
to  harden  the  hearts  of  the  Canaanites,"  that  they  should  •«  come  out  against 
the  Israelites  in  battle."    Joshua  ix,  19.    Not  that  we  are  to  say,  that  God 


90  THE  CREATION  AND  CHAP.  IV. 

if  God  himself  had  been  the  cause  of  it.  But  although  this 
is  the  general  signification  of  the  word  tardemah;  yet  it  is 
farther  used  sometimes  to  denote  that  kind  of  sleep  in  which 
God,  in  the  earlier  ages  of  the  world,  was  pleased,  in  divers 
jDanners,  to  give  revelations  unto  men.  When  sound  asleep, 
their  natural  sensations  made  no  impressions  on  them;  but, 
by  internal  visions  and  movements  of  their  minds,  they  had 
strong  and  lively  sentiments  raised  of  what  God  was  thus 
pleased  to  show  them.  Daniel  says  of  himself,  using  the  verb 
from  which  the  noun  tardemah  is  derived,  nirdmnpti,  Iivas 
in  a  deep  sleep,  on  my  face  towards  the  ground.^  but  he 
touched  me,  and  set  7ne  upright*  In  a  deep  sleep  of  this 
sort,  Daniel  was  made  to  understand  a  vision  that  appeared  to 
him.^  And  Job  in  like  manner,  in  tardemah,  a  deep  sleep  of 
this  kind,  when  a  vision  of  the  night  fell  upon  him,  saw  a 
spirit  passing  before  his  face,  an  image  before  his  eyes,  and 
heard  a  voice.^  Abram^  in  tardemah,  this  depth  of  sleep, 
had  a  very  signal  revelation  made  to  him ;  and,  accordingly, 
such  was  the  tardemah,  deep  sleep,  which  on  the  occasion 
before  us  fell  on  Adam.  Whether,  abstracted  from  all  im- 
pressions of  his  outward  senses,  he  saw,  as  Balaam  speaks,  a 
vision  of  the  Mmighty  f  as  the  Book  of  Job  mentions,  a 
spirit,  an  image,  before  him,^  actually  performing  what  was 
done  to  him,  I  cannot  determine.  But,  as  Moses  has  nowhere 
said,  that  Adam  ever  saw  any  similitude  or  appearance  to  re- 
present God,^  I  rather  think,  that  God  was  pleased,  by  im- 
pressions, such  as  the  ear  usually  conveys  to  the  mind,  and 
which  God  undoubtedly  can  cause  to  arise  in  us,  as  lively  as 
he  pleases,  as  well  without  their  actually  coming  through  the 
ear,  as  if  they  did  come  through  it,  to  cause  Adam  to  perceive 
the  same,  as  if  awake  he  had  heard  that  voice,  in  which  God 
had  before  spoken  to  him,  commanding  a  rib,  a  bone,  to  be 
taken  out  of  him,  and  seen  that  it  was  done;  bidding  the  flesh 
be  closed  up  instead  thereof,  and  it  was  so:^  saying.  Let  the 
woman  be  made  hereof,  and  she  was  created.     Upon  Adam's 

actually  prevented  the  Canaanites  from  securing  themselves  from  ruin.  See 
Connect,  book  xii.  llvvas  tlie  obstinacy  of  their  own  hearts  that  brought  them 
to  destruction ;  which  obstinacy  being  so  great,  as  that  we  in  English  would 
call  it  a  fatal  obstinacy,  the  Hebrew  expression  for  it  was,  an  obstinacy  from 
the  Loud  ;  not  meaning  hereb\-,  that  when  any  man  was  tempted,  he  should 
say  he  was  "tempted  of  God,  for  God  cannot  be  tempted  with  evil,  neither 
tempteth  he  any  man  "  James  i,  13.  Their  obstinacy  was  their  own  wilful- 
ness, great,  and  indeed  beyond  all  common  expression,  and  therefore  said  to 
be  of  the  Lonn.  In  this  sense  I  understand  what  is  said  of  the  sound  sleep  of 
Savd  and  his  army  :  not  taking  the  text  to  mean  any  more,  than  that  it  was  so 
deep  a  sleep,  as  might  be  hard  to  say  how  it  could  be,  that  they  were  not 
awaked  out  of  it. 

*  Daniel  viii,  18.  6  Ver.  19—26, 

G  Job  iv.  13,  15,  16.  ■^  Gen.  xv,  12—16. 

8  Numb,  xxiv,  16.  '  Job  ubi  sup. 

1  We  read  of  no  divine  appearance  to  any  one  before  the  days  of  Abraham. 
See  Connect,  book  ix. 

2  Gen.  ii,  21—23. 


CHAP.  IV.  FALL  OF  MAN.  91 

awaking,  he  found  in  fa6t,  what  in  his  sleep  had  been  showed 
to  him:  the  woman,  such  in  reality  as  he  had  before  appre- 
hended her,  was  brought  to  him;  i.  e.  was  present  before  him; 
and  he  now,  using  the  power  of  naming  things,  the  exercise 
which  was  upon  his  mind,  as  he  had  just  began  to  practise  it, 
before  he  fell  asleep ;  having  had  a  clear  perception  of  what 
had  been  transacted,  said  naturally  of  this  new  creature,  This 
is  now  bone  of  my  bone,  and  flesh  of  my  flesh :  she  shall  be 
called  woman,  because  she  luas  taken  out  of  man.^  But  I 
conceive  that  Adam  ended  here:  for  he  in  nowise  added  the 
words  which  follow;  Therefore  shall  a  man  leave  father 
and  mother,  and  shall  cleave  unto  his  wife,  and  they  shall 
be  one  flesh  :*  for  Adam  could  not  yet  say  what  it  was  to  be 
a  father  or  a  mother,  and  therefore  could  draw  no  conclusion 
concerning  them.  Moses  indeed  records  these  words  as  now 
spoken,  but  he  does  not  say  that  Adam  spake  them ;  and  our 
Saviour  has  told  us,  that  not  Adam,  but  God  himself  said  this 
to  them.  It  was  He,  who  made  them,  that  said.  For  this 
cause  shall  a  man  leave  father  and  mother,  and  shall  cleave 
to  his  wife,  and  they  twain  shall  be  one  flesh. ^ 

The  last  transaction  of  this  first  day  of  Adam's  life  was, 
that  after  the  woman  was  created,  God  blessed  them  both, 
and  said  unto  them  what  we  read  in  the  20th,  29th,  and  30.th 
verses  of  the  first  chapter  of  Genesis  ;  the  particulars  of  which 
may  be  sufficiently  considered,  if  I  take  a  general  review  of 
the  things  concerning  Adam  said  and  done  in  this  day. 

One  of  Dr.  Burnet's  objections  to  the  history  of  Moses  is, 
that  it  heaps  together  too*  many  things  for  the  space  of  time 
allotted  to  them:*"  and  indeed  this  writer  has  endeavoured  to 
run  together  a  multiplicity  of  incidents,  and  to  crowd  them 
all  into  this  one  day,  in  order  to  represent  it  as  having  been 
a  day  of  great  hurry  and  confusion,  rather  than  such  as  the 
day  ought  to  have  been,  on  a  cool  and  deliberate  sense  of 
which,  and  a  conduct  according  to  it,  depended  the  life  or 
death  (we  might  say,  if  there  had  been  no  farther  purpose  in 
the  deep  counsel  of  God  for  us,  depended  the  whole)  of  man. 
But  if  we  carefully  examine,  and  distinguish  what  are  the 
facts  which  Moses  ascribes  to  this  one  day,  and  what  are  not, 
and  in  what  manner  he  describes  them,  we  shall  see  reason 
to  difier  widely  from  this  writer.  God  breathed  into  Jldani 
the  breath  of  life,  and  caused  him  to  become  a  living  soulr 
but  Moses  in  nowise  describes  Adam,  as  soon  as  he  began  to 
think,  as  abounding  instantly  in  a  variety  of  conceptions  con- 
cerning his  own  nature,  concerning  the  Deity,  or  the  works 

3  Gen.  ii,  23.  *  Ver.  24. 

5  Matt,  xix,  4,  5. 

6  Quantillo  tempore  hacc  omnia  peracta  narrantur— !  Quot  autetn,  ti. 
quanta  congerenda  sunt  in  hunc  unum  diem !  Burnet,  Archseol,  p.  294. 

"  Gen,  ii,  7. 


92  THE  CREATION  AND  CHAP.  IV. 

of  God,  and  the  fabric  of  the  world."  Had  Moses  brought 
forth  Adam  expatiating  in  such  an  unbounded  wild  of  sudden 
and  undigested  apprehensions,  there  would  have  been  reason 
to  consider  whether  the  human  mind  would  not  have  hence 
fallen  into  great  confusion.  But  there  is  a  propriety  in  the 
manner  in  which  Moses  brings  Adam  into  the  world :  he  does 
not  tell  us,  that  in  order  to  take  his  first  sight  of  things,  God 
set  him  upon  a  hill,  to  look  around  him  over  the  creation  ; 
but  God  put  him  into  a  garden,  where  a  few  plain  and  easy- 
objects  surrounded  and  confined  his  first  views  from  taking 
in  such  variety  as  would  have  been  too  much  for  him.  A 
bounded  shade  of  trees  was  a  scene,  which  neither  fatigued 
his  eye  nor  gave  a  multiplicity  of  conceptions  to  his  mind. 
In  this  silent  cover  from  the  many  things  which  were  in  the 
world,  he  hears  the  voice  of  God,  and  finds  that  he  knows 
what  Was  said  to  him. 

The  words  now  spoken  to  him  were  not  such  as  called  him 
into  the  midst  of  things  to  load  him  with  a  multitude  of  sen- 
timents, either  of  God,  of  himself,  or  of  what  was  in  the 
world  ;  or  concerning  what  were  j,o  be  the  moral  and  relative 
duties  of  his  life.  The  voice  of  God,  as  yet,  spake  to  him 
only  of  the  plain  objects  then  visibly  before  him  ;  called  the 
lofty  plants,  which  he  saw,  the  trees  of  the  garden ;  told  him, 
that  he  might  eat  of  them  all,  except  one ;  but  commanded 
him  not  to  eat  of  that  one ;  for  that,  if  he  did,  he  should  surely 
die.'^  And  it  is  remarkable,  that  this  one  tree  was  so  distin- 
guished from  all  others  by  its  situation,^  that  it  must,  at  sight, 
have  been  known  in  order  to  be  avdided,  before  he  had  time 
to  make  observations,  to  sec  wherein  one  tree  differed  from 
another. 

May  we  add,  that  Adam  heard  the  voice  of  God  declare, 
that  it  was  not  good  that  he  should  be  alone,  but  that  a  help, 
which  should  be  his  likeness,  should  be  made  for  him?^  Sup- 
pose that  these  words  conveyed  to  him,  not  all  the  enlarged 
notions  of  the  wants  and  imperfections  of  solitary  life,^  nor 


'  We  may  see  a  large  field  of  imagination  of  this  kind  most  beautifully 
coloured,  but  in  fact,  and  the  reason  of  the  thing,  mere  fancy  and  romance,  in 
Milton,  Par.  Lost,  book  viii. 

»  Gen.  ii,  16,  17. 

'  It  does  not  seem  to  me  determined,  that  the  tree  of  life  stood  also  in  tlie 
midst  of  the  garden.  Eve  seems  rather  to  hint  that  the  forbidden  tree  stood 
single  and  alone  in  that  situation,  Gen.  iii,  3.  Our  9th  verse  of  the  second 
chapter  might  be  pointed  and  translated  thus:  "  And  out  of  the  ground  made 
the  Lonn  God  to  grow  every  tree  that  is  pleasant  to  the  sight,  and  good  for 
food,  and  the  tree  of  life  ;  in  the  midst  of  the  garden  also,  the  tree  of  know- 
ledge of  good  and  evil."  And  thus  tliis  verse  would  agree  with  what  Eve  said 
in  the  next  chapter. 

2  Gen.  ii,  18.  vide  qua;  sup. 

3  Milton  supposes  Adam  wonderfully  able  to  expatiate  upon  the  unhappi 
ness  of  solitude,  and  the  benefits  of  equal  society ;  to  say  why  God  might,  but 
man  could  not,  comfortably  be  alone.  The  representation  he  draws  is  most 
delightfully  poetical.    But  wc  can  in  nowise  think  considerately,  that  Adam 


CHAP.  IV.  FALL  OF  MAN.  93 

the  variety  of  the  comforts  of  social  happiness ;  the  ideas  of 
which  could  not  begin  and  increase  in  him,  sooner  or  farther, 
than  a  knowledge  and  experience  of  life  raised  and  improved 
them  :  and  suppose  that  the  words  suggested  to  him  no  more, 
than  that  another  person  like  himself  should  be  made  to  be 
with  him,  and  that  it  was  good  for  him  to  have  it  so  (a  point, 
which,  perhaps,  if  God  had  not  told  him,  he  would  as  yet  not 
have  thought  of;)  nothing  herein  was  proposed  to  him  so 
complex,  as  that  his  first  thoughts  could  be  in  any  confusion 
about  it. 

The  next  incident  may  indeed  seem  an  embarrassment,  if  - 
we  suppose  it  to  have  been  transacted  as  it  is  commonly  con- 
ceived ;  but  this,  I  think,  I  have  already  obviated.  There 
was  no  assemblage  of  the  living  creatures  of  the  world  for 
Adam  to  name  them,  nor  could  he  at  any  one  time  make  a 
survey  of  them ;  it  would  have  been  a  work  too  large  for  him. 
But  though  Adam  had  heard  the  voice  of  God,  yet  he  had  not, 
at  this  time,  made  any  one  word  of  his  own  for  himself;  and 
we  may  allow,  that  the  fact  of  his  naming  the  creatures,  as 
Moses  truly  states  it,  shows  us  very  naturally,  how  the  man, 
having  been  enabled  to  understand  the  words  which  God  had 
spoken  to  him,  was  introduced  to  begin  and  exercise  himself 
to  make  farther  words  for  the  occasions  of  his  life.  The 
naming  one  creature  taught  him  how  he  might  name  another; 
and  the  making  names  for  the  creatures  gradually  apprised 
him  how  he  had  it  in  his  power  to  name  and  to  speak  of  all 
kind  of  things,  for  him  and  Eve  to  begin  and  improve  a  con- 
versible  life.  In  this  easy  and  natural  manner  (to  use  the 
words  of  the  author  of  the  Book  of  Wisdom)  it  was  granted 
to  them,  to  speak  as  they  would  of  the  things  which  were 
given  them.'* 

Before  Adam  had  proceeded  far  in  naming  the  creatures,  it 
pleased  God  to  cause  him  to  fall  into  a  deep  sleep,*  wherein 
no  sensations  from  without  gave  him  any  interruption.  He 
had,  however,  a  clear  and  disimplicated  perception  of  the 
manner  in  which  Eve  was  taken  out  of  him;  and  therein 
learned  to  name  some  parts  of  his  own  body,  a  rib,  a  bone, 
his  flesh ;  and  from  what  he  had  perceived  concerning  her 
origin,  to  name  the  woman  also  according  to  it.     And, 

After  he  had  received  the  person  made  for  him,  and  given 
her  a  name,  reconsidering  her  extract,  He,  who  made  them 
both,  said  unto  them,*"  the  voice  of  God  spake,  what  he  in- 
tended should  be  the  strict  and  indissoluble  union  of  man  and 
wife  in  their  lives.  Relations  of  life  were  indeed  here  sug- 
gested, of  which  Adam  and  Eve  as  yet  could  not  have  any 
judgment ;  for  it  seems  that  Adam  did  not  yet  know  that  Eve 

could  as  yet  have  thoughts  like  tliese  upon  the  subject.    Milton.  Par.  Lost,  b,. 
riii,  365 — 435. 

*  Wisdom  vii,  15.  sGen.  ii,  21,  '■  Vide  qux  sun. 

Vol.  IV.  N 


94  THE  CREATION  AND  CHAP.  IV. 

was  to  be  a  mother,  or  himself  a  father.  It  may  be  observed, 
that  as  soon  as  he  knew  she  was  to  be  the  mother  of  all  living, 
he  gave  her  a  name  accordingly,  and  thereupon  called  her 
name  Eve;^  but  this  was  not  until  after  the  fall,  and  after  the 
sentence  of  God  passed  upon  them.*  However,  it  may  be  ap- 
prehended, that  what  God  here  said  must  strike  their  minds, 
charged  as  yet  with  only  few  things ;  and  be  so  remembered 
by  them,  that  when  afterwards  they  came  to  be  a  father  and 
a  mother,  and  in  time  had  children  grown  up  to  be  husbands 
and  wives,  they  might  consider  and  instruct  them,  what  in 
the  beginning  had  been  said  unto  them  ;  and  how,  according 
to'GoD's  original  design  and  commandment,  man  and  wife 
were  inseparably  to  live  together  in  the  world. 

Before  the  close  of  this  their  first  day,  God  blessed  theniy 
and  said  unto  them,  he  fruitful,  and  multiply,  and  re- 
plenish the  earth,  and  subdue  it,  and  have  dominion  over 
the  fish  of  the  sea,  and  over  the  fowl  of  the  air,  and  over 
every  living  thing  that  moveth  upon  the  earth?  It  does 
not  seem,  I  rather  think  I  may  affirm,  that  our  first  parents 
had  not  yet  looked  beyond  their  garden ;  they  had  not  seen 
the  compass  of  the  world,  nor  taken  account  of  the  numbers 
of  the  creatures  that  were  therein.  They  had  not  been  on 
the  sea  shore;  nor  could  they  know  the  inhabitants  of  the 
floods,  whose  paths  are  in  the  waters;  so  that  it  \Vould  be  un- 
natural and  absurd  to  think  that  the  words,  now  spoken  to 
them,  were  any  farther  understood,  than  to  give  them  a 
general  expectation  of  seeing  and  becoming  acquainted  with 
a  various  and  extensive  scene  of  things,  far  beyond  what  was 
yet  beheld  by,  or  known  to,  them.  Their  garden  was  the 
inclosure  which  at  present  surrounded  them.  But  they  were 
now  informed,  that  a  whole  world  was  to  be  opened  to  them; 
that  they  should  find  innumerable  living  creatures  on  the  land, 
in  the  seas,  and  in  the  air;  and  that  they  themselves  should 
be  fruitful  and  multiply,  should  replenish  the  earth,  and  sub- 
due it,  and  have  dominion  over,  and  be,  as  it  were,  proprie- 
tors of  all  the  living  creatures  that  were  created;  that  there 
was  sustenance  provided  for  all  living  things,  in  the  fruits  of 
the  ground ;  which  were  all  given  without  exception  or  re- 
straint, the  one  limitation  only  observed,  of  one  tree  in  the 
garden,  of  which  Adam  and  Eve  were  not  to  eat.'  These  in- 
timations were  now  given  them;  but  they  were  in  nowise  in- 
structed by  them  to  know  the  things  spoken  of,  so  fully  as 
every  day  after  more  and  more  led  them  to  understand. 
What  God  now  spake  to  them  had  only  this  general  effect; 
that,  as  the  world  opened  to  them,  nothing  in  it  was  so  abso- 
lutely unexpected  as  to  surprise  or  confound  them;  for,  re- 
membering what  had  been  said  to  them,  they  might,  as  new 

'  Gen,  iii,  20.  s  ibid. 

9  Chap,  i,  28,  &c.  '  Chap,  i,  qua  sup. 


CHAP.  IV.  FALL  OF  MAN.  95 

things  presented  themselves,  gradually  proceed  to  name,  dis- 
tinguish, and  daily  grow  acquainted  with  them,  to  consider 
how  they  could  use  their  power  over  them,  and  make  them 
useful  or  agreeable. 

I  might  add  farther,  that  how  much  soever  of  these  things 
was  told  them,  it  appears  to  have  been  provided  for  them, 
that  they  should  not  hurry  too  fast  to  look  into,  and  after  the 
many  things  in  the  world.  The  day  ensuing  was  to  be  a  Sab- 
bath,^ a  day  of  rest,  to  be  set  apart  to  recollect  and  consider 
all  that  had  been  said  and  showed  to  them ;  that  before  they 
proceeded,  they  might  have  all  the  instruction,  which  a  re- 
peated review  of  it  could  give,  distinct  upon  their  hearts. 
And  when  the  Sabbath  was  over,  they  were  not  instantly  at 
liberty  to  wander  at  large  over  the  earth;  for  their  first  busi- 
ness was  in  their  garden;  where  God  had  given  them  em- 
ployment; to  dress  it,  and  to  keep  it?  Their  duty  here,  if 
attended  to,  would  so  far  confine  them,  that  the  world  would 
not  break  in  upon  them,  nor  they  go  into  the  world  faster  or 
farther  than  they  might  become  gradually  able  to  receive  and 
digest  that  knowledge  of  things,  which  would  arise  from  it. 
In  this  manner  Moses  represents  God  as  having  given  our 
first  parents  the  beginning  of  their  lives :  and  whoever  will 
duly  examine  the  sentiments  which  he  sets  before  us  upon 
this  subject,  and  compare  them  with  what  other  writers  have 
fancied  and  represented  (of  all  whom  we  shall  find  none  so 
likely  to  captivate  us  as  our  Milton  ;"*)  I  say,  whoever  will 
compare  Moses  with  other  writers  upon  this  subject,  will 
find,  that  he  deeply  entered  into  the  real  nature  of  man;  and 
will  be  brought  to  say  of  him  above  all  others, 

Quanto  rectius  hie — nil  molitur  inepte. 

HOH. 

His  account  speaks  itself  to  be  fact,  and  not  fable;  and  though 
our  first  thoughts  may  not  fully  comprehend  what  he  has 
written;  yet  a  careful  examination  of  it  will  show  us,  that 
they,  who  have  thought  it  fable,  have  not  taken  pains  truly  to 
understand  it.  I  have  only  to  observe,  before  I  close  this 
chapter,  that  from  what  has  been  said  we  may  reasonbly  con- 
ceive, that  our  first  parents  were  not  hurried  into  any  scene, 
either  of  things  or  sentiments,  larger  or  sooner  than  they 
were  able  to  form,  as  they  should  want  them,  all  such  words 
as  the  incidents  of  their  lives  would  call  for,  over  and  besides 
those  which  God  already  had,  or  did  afterwards  speak  to 
them. 

2  Gen,  ii,  2.  a  yer,  \5,  4  Paradise  Lost. 


CHAPTER  V 


An  Inquiry,  ivhat  we  may  reasonably  think  to  have 
been,  at  this  time,  the  actual  state  of  Adamh  know- 
ledge. 

MOST  writers,  who  have  treated  of  the  Fall,  give  us  ac- 
counts of  what  they  think  was  the  primitive  state  of  Adam 
and  Eve's  knowledge  before  they  committed  sin;  but  their 
sentiments,  however  ingenious  they  may  seem,  are  no  better 
than  groundless  imaginations.  Our  English  poet  represents 
Adam,  when  just  created,  not  only  as  seeing  things  as  they 
came  before  him;  but  instantly  knowing  their  natures,  by 
God's  giving  him  an  immediate  apprehension  of  them.  In- 
troducing Adam  relating  how  he  named  the  creatures;  sup- 
posing the  hypothesis  to  have  been  fact,  that  God  caused  an 
assemblage  of  the  whole  animal  world,  to  see  what  Adam 
would  name  every  creature,  he  makes  him  say  of  himself, 

I  nam'd  them  as  tliey  pass'd,  and  understood 
Their  natures ;  witli  such  knowledge  God  endu'd 
jSIy  sudden  apprehension. 1 

That  God  could  if  he  had  pleased,  have  thus  endowed  Adam, 
can  be  no  question;  but  that  God  did  not,  is  plain;  for  nothing 
can  be  more  evident,  than  that  neither  Eve  nor  Adam  had  in 
fact  this  knowledge.  They  seem  both  to  have  been  together 
when  the  serpent  spake  to  Eve;^  but  neither  appears  to  have 

1  Milton's  Paradise  Lost,  b.  viii,  I.  352. 

2  The  supposinsj  Eve  to  have  gone  forth  to  work,  separate  from  Adam,  on 
the  morning  that  the  temptation  befel  her,  is  an  ingenious  fiction  of  our  poet ; 
which  gave  him  room  to  introduce  an  episode  as  beautiful,  and  well-orna- 
mented in  all  its  incidents,  as  human  imagination  could  contrive  or  can  con- 
ceive. See  Milton's  Paradise  Lost,  b.  ix.  Cut  I  do  not  see  that  the  text  of 
Moses  appears  to  countenance  it :  Moses  says,  that  Eve, 

Sawn        nnjj  ntyiNS-aj  jnni         Sdnpi  vibd  npnv 

et  edit  secum  viro  etiam  et  dedit  et  edit  de  fructu  ejus  et  cepit 
That  she  took  of  the  fruit  and  did  eat,  and  gave  also  to  her  hnsband,  who  was 
with  her,  and  he  did  eat. 


98  THE  CREATION  AND  CHAP.  V. 

been  surprised  at  hearing  a  serpent  speak  in  man's  voice. 
The  observation  which  they  seem  to  have  made  upon  it  was, 
that  the  serpent  was  more  subtle  than  any  beast  of  the 
field 2"^  they  had  heard  no  other  creature  thus  speak,  and 
therefore  apprehended  that  the  serpent  had  higher  endow- 
ments than  other  animals.  But  we  have  no  hint  which  re- 
presents either  of  them  as  having  been  at  all  aware  that  the 
serpent  was  not  by  nature  as  conversible  as  themselves;''  a 
plain  indication  that  they  had  no  such  knowledge  of  the  ani- 
mal world  as  Milton  supposes.  Milton  variously  imagines 
that  Adam  had  this  innate  sudden  apprehension  to  guide  him 
aright  to  judge  of  all  things;  of  the  nature  of  God ;^  and  the 
nature  of  man  ;^  in  a  word,  of  every  thing  knowable,  within 
the  reach  of  tlie  human  capacity.  In  truth,  this  seems  to  be 
the  general  opinion  of  writers  ;  who  speak  of  Adam  as  if  he 
was  created  a  philosopher ;  had  implanted  in  him  a  natural  fund 
of  all  science,  instantly  informing  him  of  the  true  nature  of 
things,  whenever  any  of  them  came  before  his  eyes,  or  any 
occasion  was  given  him  to  have  thoughts  of  them  in  his  mind. 
They  think,  that  he  had  innate  sentiments  of  all  moral  duties; 
and  that  before  the  Fall  he  was  ignorant  of  nothing  but  of  sin: 
but  the  history  of  Moses  sets  before  us  plain  facts,  flatly  con- 
tradicting all  these  assertions.  If  Adam  had  a  true  and  innate 
knowledge  and  apprehension  of  the  nature  of  God  ;  how  could 
he  have  been  so  ignorant  of  him  with  whom  he  had  to  do,  as 
to  think  that  getting  behind  the  cover  of  a  few  trees  would 
hide  him  from  his  presence?*  or  if  he  philosophically  knew 
himself,  had  full  and  innate  apprehensions  of  the  use  and  light 
of  his  own  reason,  and  of  all  that  could  come  within  the 
reach  of  it;  what  room  could  there  be  for  the  serpent  frivo- 
lously to  offer  to  open  farther,  either  his  eyes  or  his  under- 
standing? Rationally  judging,  and  having  a  right  judgment 
of  every  thing  that  came  before,  either  his  outward  percep- 
tion, or  his  inward  reflection,  the  serpent's  temptation  must 
have  appeared  intuitively  absurd.  He  would  have  felt  him- 
self not  wanting  such  additions  as  the  serpent  sugg;ested ;  and, 
besides,  would  have  had  a  better  thought  of  things,  than  to  be 


»  Gen.  iii,  i. 

*  Milton,  b.  ix,  supposes  that  Eve  had  been  much  surprised  at  hearing  the 
serpent  speak;  and  represents  her  asking  how  he  came  by  that  ability;  to 
which  he  answers,  that  he  was  raised  to  that  attainment  l)y  eating  the  fruit  of 
the  forbidden  tree ;  and  that  she  hence  argued,  if  the  dumb  animal  was  so 
heightened  beyond  his  natural  abilities  by  eating  of  this  fruit,  then  well  might 
she  and  Adam  hope  to  be  as  God,  if  they  sliould  eat  of  it.  But,  however 
agreeable  this  fiction  is  by  the  manner  in  which  the  poet  has  most  elegantly 
painted  it;  yet  it  can  only  be  an  elegant  fiction.  .Moses  suggests  notliing  like 
it,  nor  is  it  likely  that  God  would  have  permitted  wiiat  might  have  given  a 
more  than  ordinary  appearance  and  strength  to  the  temptation.  Sec  here- 
after. 

5  Milton,  b.  viii,  SSr— 413,  &.c.  e  Ibid. 

*  Gen.  iii,  8. — The  reader  will  observe,  that  this  was  ofter  Adam's  Fall. 
when  all  his  mental  po^^■crs  were  debased  by  the  introduction  of  sin.    Edit. 


CHAP.  V.  FALL  OF  MAN.  99 

capable  of  imagining,  that  the  improvements  proposed  to  him 
could  arise  from  doing  what  the  serpent  recommended.  We 
may  therefore,  if  we  will  write  at  random,  say  high  things  of 
Adam  and  Eve's  natural  and  philosophical  knowledge;  but 
we  can  never  make  it  appear,  that  they  had  as  yet  much 
science,  if  in  fact  they  knew  things  no  bettor  than  to  think 
that  a  serpent  might  naturally  be  able  to  speak  to  them  ;  or 
grossly  to  believe,  that  meat  for  the  body  might  be  food  for 
the  understanding ;  that  the  fruit  of  a  tree,  which  they  saw 
growing  in  their  garden,  could  be  a  thing  to  be  desired  to  eat 
to  make  one  tvise.^  A  sentiment  this,  not  to  be  digested  by 
any  one  that  has  understanding,  and  consequently  must  de- 
monstrate, that  our  first  parents  had  as  yet  attained  but  little 
advancement  in  real  knowledge. 

Adam,  as  soon  as  he  received  the  breath  of  life,  became  a 
living  soul  :^  but  he  had  a  body  made  of  the  ground,^  and 
his  soul  was,  as  our  souls  are,  shut  up  within  the  inclosure  of 
this  tabernacle.  In  this  state,  the  things  without  him,  the  ma- 
terial objects  of  this  world,  could  raise  in  him  no  ideas,  but 
as  sensations  of  them  were  conveyed  by  his  outward  senses.- 
He  could  naturally  jwdge  of  what  he  thus  perceived  no  farther 
than  iv6vnr,97jva.  a|(,'wj  tC^v  bcbojxivtov,^  to  think  of  them  suitably 
to  what  was  given,  or  presented  to  him  :  and  if  he  looked  in- 
ward upon  himself,  he  could  form  ideas  of  his  own  mind,  only 
as  he  made  trial  of  its  capacity  and  powers,  and  thereby  came 
to  know  them:  so  that  experience  only  could  give  him  natu- 
rally an  increase  of  knowledge.  Let  us  suppose  him  turning 
his  thoughts  from  himself  to  a  higher  object;  to  consider  Him 
who  made  him; 

"  Say,— of  God  above 

What  couUl  he  reason,  but  from  what  he  knew  ;"* 

He  knew  of  God  as  yet  no  more,  than  what  the  words  which 
God  had  spoken  to  him  could  teach,  or  his  own  few  and  first 
observations  of  things  done  might  lead  him  to  infer. 

There  are  indeed  some  texts  of  Scripture,  which,  if  not 
rightly  considered  may  lead  us  into  a  mistake  in  this  matter. 
St.  Paul  tells  us  of  the  Gentiles,  who  had  not  had  the  light  of 
the  law  of  Moses,  that  they  did  bi/  nature  the  things  con- 
tained in  the  law:  not  having  the  law,  they  were  a  law  unto 
themselves :  which  he  says,  shoio  the  work  of  the  law  writ- 
ten iti  their  hearts,  their  conscience  also  bearing  witness, 

8  Gen.  lii,  6.  s  Chap,  ii,  7.  i  Ibid. 

"  This,  1  think,  must  be  allowed  as  unquestionable.  See  Locke's  Kssay  on 
Human  Understanding,  book  ii,  c.  1 ;  unless  we  could  imagine,  that  Adam'had 
been  a  creature  originally  furnished  with  different  abilities  to  perceive  the 
things  without  him,  other  than  the  five  operations,  or  senses,  which  the  author 
of  Ecclesiasticus  represents  that  he  had  been  endued  with  as  we  are.  Ecclus. 
xvii,  5. 

3  Wisdom  vii,  \5. 

*  Pope's  Essay  on  Man,  Ep.  i. 


100  THE  CREATION  AKD  CHAP.  V. 

and  their  thoughts  accusing,  or  else  excusing  one  another.^ 
Arc  we  then  to  conclude  from  hence,  that  God  has  actually 
written,  as  it  were,  or  implanted  innate  sentiments  of  duty 
upon  the  hearts  of  man?  I  rather  apprehend,  that  a  true  essay 
of  the  human  undei'standing;  a  true  judgment  of  whatever 
was,  or  still  is,  the  ability  of  man,  will  show  us,  that  a  capa- 
city of  attaining  just  notions  of  our  duties,  and  not  an  actual 
possession  of  real  sentiments  of  them,  is  the  utmost  of  what 
the  first  man  was  created  in,  or  any  of  us  are  born  to:  and  a 
careful  examination  of  what  is  offered  by  St.  Paul  will  in 
nowise  lead  us  to  conclude  more.  The  apostle  elsewhere  tells 
us,  speaking  of  the  Gentiles,  that  that  which  may  be  known 
of  God  was  manifest  in  them,  for  that  God  had  showed  it 
unto  them.^  The  question  is,  how  had  God  showed  it? 
Had  God  planted  it  innate  in  their  hearts?  This  was  not  the 
sentiment  of  St.  Paul;  rather  he  tells  us,  that  God  had 
showed  it  unto  them;  for  or  because  the  invisible  things  of 
him  from  the  creation  of  the  world  are  clearly  seen,  being 
understood  by  the  things  tvhich  are  made?  The  Gentile 
nations,  of  whom  the  apostle  here  and  elsewhere  treats,  had  so 
far  read  the  volume  of  the  book  of  nature,  had  so  far  heard 
of,  or  known  and  considered  the  works  of  God,  as  to  he  with- 
out excuse,  if  thence  apparent  duties  of  their  nature  were  not 
collected  by  them.  But  we  should  in  fact  be  mistaken,  and 
err  from  the  meaning  of  St.  Paul,^  if  we  expect  to  find  im- 
planted in  men's  hearts  real  characters  of  their  duties  farther 
than  the  book  of  nature  has  been  read  and  considered  by 
them ;  or  they  have  attained  a  knowledge  of  them,  more  or 
less  perfect,  as  they  have  happened  to  hear  of,  and  be  in- 
structed from,  some  of  the  revelations  which  God  has  made 
to  the  world.  Consequently,  speaking  rationally  of  Adam, 
whilst  he  had  as  yet  heard  and  seen  but  a  very  few  of  God's 
works,  and  those  few  had  not  been  so  repeatedly  examined 
by  him,  and  compared  with  things  which  in  time  followed, 
as  to  give  him  a  various  trial,  and  an  enlarged  and  cor- 
rected judgment;  he  cannot  be  thought  to  have  attained  a 
great  extent  of  any  kind  of  knowledge.  All  natural  science 
lias  grown  amongst  men,  as  observation  has  gradually  in- 
creased it;  therefore,  to  say  of  Adam,  that  as  soon  as  he 
lifted  up  his  eyes,  after  he  was  created,  and  saw  the  Sun, 
Moon,  and  Stars,  which  gave  light  upon  the  Earth,  he  in- 
stantaneously knew  that  these  lights  of  Heaven  were  to  be 
for  signs  and.  for  seasons,  for  days  and  for  years  f  is  to 
talk  very  irrationally.  He  cannot  be  supposed  to  have  known, 
before  his  first  evening  showed  it,  that  the  Sun  was  to  have  a 


5  Rom.  11,  14,  15.  «  Chap.  1.  19.  '  Ver.  20. 

s  Ibid.  ■'  (;en.  1,  14. 


CHAP.  V.  FALL  OF  MAN.  101 

him  of  the  rising  day,  what  would  have  enabled  him  to  have 
said  with  the  poet, 


liusque  et  idem 


Nasceris- 


He  could  not  have  told,  whether  the  rising  Sun  of  his  second 
day  was  a  new  one :  or  the  same  which  had  the  day  before 
shone  upon  him.  In  time  he  formed  a  better  judgment  of 
these  and  other  appearances:  but  as  many  ages,  abounding  in 
all  kinds  of  learned  disquisitions,  passed,  before  it  was  appre- 
hended that  the  Sun  did  not  move  round  the  Earth ;  it  must 
be  a  wild  notion  to  think,  that  in  the  beginning  of  the  world 
our  first  father  was  possessed  of  an  innate  astronomy.  All 
notions  of  his  innate  knowledge  of  the  nature  of  the  animals 
must,  if  thus  considered,  fall  likewise  to  the  ground;  for  be 
could  know  nothing  of  them  until  he  observed  them;  and 
then,  nothing  farther  than  what  he  observed,  or  concluded 
from  observations  made  of  them.  And,  of  God,  he  knew  that 
he  had  received  an  audible  injunction  not  to  eat  of  one  tree: 
and  he  had  heard  from  the  same  voice  other  particulars:  and 
in  the  formation  of  Eve,  he  had  had  a  sensible  conviction,  that 
he  who  spake  to  him  had  great  power  to  make  or  create,  and 
consequently  to  destroy.  Hence,  as  soon  as  he  had  disobeyed, 
he  reasoned,  that  he  might  justl}^  be  afraid  :  he  was  a f raid, 
and  hid  himself:^  but  having  had  nothing  yet  told  or  showed 
him,  whereby  he  might  consider  the  omnipresence  of  God, 
the  imperfection  of  his  own  sight  led  him  to  imagine  that  he 
might  get  out  of  God's  sight,  if  he  hid  himself  behind  the 
cover  of  a  few  trees.  Respecting  himself  he  had  experienced, 
that  he  saw,  and  heard,  and  felt,  and  lived;  that  he  tasted  the 
food  he  was  to  eat;  that  it  revived  his  spirits,  and  strength- 
ened his  heart  :^  and  though  I  must  think  that  he  had  a  clear 
intellect  to  reason  and  conclude  of  things  as  far,  though  no 
farther,  than  they  appeared  to  him,  or  he  had  experience  of 
them  ;  yet,  hitherto,  he  could  have  made  no  advancement  in 
knowledge,  which  could  show  him  whether  there  were  or 
were  not  juices  in  the  fruit  of  a  particular  tree,  which  might 
literally  cheer  both  God  and  man  ;^  give  fresh  life  and  spirits 
to  the  body,  and  likewise  wisdom  and  understanding  to  the 
mind.  Therefore  he  did  not  hereupon  know  enough  to  argue 
and  refute  the  falsehood  which  Eve's  imagination  seems  to 
have  proposed,  that  the  tree  was  to  be  desired  to  make  one 
wise'*^ 

It  will,  I  am  sensible,  be  here  said  by  some,  that  they  do 
not  assert  Adam  and  Eve  as  having  had  any  innate  actual 
knowledge  ;  but  they  apprehend  that  both  our  first  parents  h'ad 
been  created  with  such  powers  of  capacity,  that  they  would 

«  Gen.  iii,  10.  2  psal.  civ,  15. 

3  Judges  ix,  13.  «  Gen.  iii,  6. 

Vol.  TV  0 


102  THE  CREATIOX  AND  CHAP.  V. 

naturally  form  just  and  true  notions  of  things,  as  they  came 
imder  their  inspection  and  observation;  so  as  not  really  to 
want  any  farther  instruction  concerning  any  thing  which  they 
ought  or  could  be  obliged  to  know,  than  what  might  naturally 
arise  to  them  from  their  own  senses  and  understanding.  Our 
modern  rationalists  think,  that  they  can  not  only  support  this 
notion  from  reason,  but  can  bring  Scripture  also  to  confirm 
it.  They  argue,  that  "  Moses  says,  that  God  created  man 
in  his  own  image,^  and  that  Solomon  tells  us,  that  God  made 
man  iip^^ight  /  the  meaning  of  both  which  expressions,  taken 
together,  imports,  they  say,  that  man  was  endued  with  ra- 
tional moral  faculties,  resembling  the  moral  perfections  of  his 
Creator :  was  made  perfect  in  his  kind,  capable  to  know  and 
fulfil  the  duties,  and  attain  the  end  of  his  creation,  by  a  right 
use  of  his  rational  faculties,  which  were  given  him  to  be  the 
guide  and  rule  of  his  life  and  actions :  and  therefore  that  the 
reason,  which  God  gave,  must  have  been  sufficient  to  direct 
him  to  those  duties,  which  God  required  of  him,  and  to  con- 
duct him  to  that  happiness,  which  is  the  natural  efiect,  or  by 
God's  will  the  appointed  reward,  of  the  performance  of  it." 

The  writer,  from  whom  I  have  cited  these  words,  did,  I  dare 
say,  conceive,  that  he  had  guarded  his  expressions  in  a  man- 
ner liable  to  no  exception;  but  he  has,  I  think,  the  misfortune 
common  to  these  writers,  not  to  hit  the  least  tittle  of  the 
meaning,  in  the  texfs  which  they  cite. 

God,  he  says  from  Moses,  created  man  in  his  own  image. 
It  must,  I  think,  be  indisputable,  that,  in  a  most  obvious  sense 
of  the  words,  man's  being  created  in  the  image  of  God  may 
refer  to  the  make  of  his  body;  and  intimate,  that  he  was 
formed,  not  after  the  fashion  of  any  other  living  creature,  but 
was  made  in  a  pattern  higher  than  they;  a  more  excellent 
form  than  theirs  was  given  to  him. 

Pronaque  cum  spectant  animalia  ca:tera  terras, 
Os  liomini  sublime  dedit,  cocliimque  tueri 
Jussit,  et  erectos  ad  sidcra  tollcre  vultus. 

Otid,  Metam.'' 

It  is  an  expression  not  unfrequent  in  the  Hebrew  Scrip- 
tures, to  say  of  things,  that  they  arc  of  God,  if  they  are  in 
quality  eminent  above  others,  which  have  no  more  than  com- 
mon perfections.  Thus,  trees  of  a  prodigious  growth  are 
called  trees  of  God,  or  the  trees  of  the  Lord  :  such  were  the 
cedars  of  Lebanon ;  so  greatly  flourisliing  and  full  of  sap  as  to 

5  Gen.  i,  26.  «  Eccles.  vii,  29. 

■^  In  like  manner  the  Roman  philosopher:  "Figuram  corporis  habilem  et 
apfcm    ingenio  humano   dedit;    nam  cum  caiteros  animaiites  abjecisset   ad 

l^stuin,  sohmi  hominem   erexit,  ad  coclique — conspectum   excitavit; 

turn  spcciem  ita  Ibrmavit  oris,  ut  in  ca  penitiis  reconditos  mores  affingeret ; 
nam  et  oculi  nimis  arguti,  qtiemadmodum  animi  afFecti  simus,  loquntur,  et 
is,  qui  appellatur  vultus,  qui  nullo  in  animante  esse  prseter  hominem  potest, 
indicat  mores.    Cic.  de  Legib.  lib.  i. 


CHAP.  V.  FALL  OF  MAN.  103 

be  for  that  reason  called  the  trees  of  the  Lord,  trees  which 
he  had  planted.*  And  thus  man  might  be  said  to  be  made  in 
the  image  of  God:  his  outward  form  was  of  a  different  make; 
far  more  respectable,  and  superior  to  the  make  of  all  other 
creatures  in  the  world.  Accordingly,  to  speak  suitably  of  it, 
the  expression  is  used,  which  in  the  language  of  Moses's  times 
was  commonly  said  of  any  thing,  which  was  so  superlatively 
excellent  as  to  have  nothing  like  to  or  be  compared  with  it. 
No  image  of  any  thing  in  the  world  was  equal  to,  or  like  that 
of  man;  therefore  man  was  said  to  be  created  in  the  imag-e  of 
God. 

1  would  observe,  that  from  St.  Paul  it  appears,  that  the  ex- 
pression of  Moses  may  carry  this  meaning:  A  man,  he  says, 
ought  not  to  cover  his  head,  forasmuch  as  he  is  the  image 
and  glory  of  God  :  but  the  woman  is  the  glory  of  the  man? 
The  apostle  is  here  inquiring,  not  into  the  dignity  of  the  mind 
or  soul  of  the  man  or  the  woman,  but  considering  what  ought 
to  be  the  outward  appearance  or  dress  of  their  persons.  He 
would  not  have  the  man's  head  covered,  because  the  man  was 
the  image  of  God  :  his  form  was  original,  not  the  copy  of 
another;  and  therefore,  to  express  its  original  superiority 
above  all  others,  is  said  to  be  of  God.  But  the  woman  herein 
was  inferior,  being  made  after  the  likeness  and  similitude  of 
man;  therefore,  in  the  sentiment  of  the  apostle,  she  ought  to 
wear  a  covering  upon  her  head,  in  acknowledgment,  that  she 
was  not  Slice  formse,  the  original  pattern  of  the  make  she  was 
of  She  was  herein  inferior  to  the  man,^  in  that  the  glory  or 
dignity  of  her  make  was  his ;  she  was  the  glory  of  the  man ; 
the  high  excellence  of  her  make  was  but  a  copy  of  what  he, 
the  man,  was  made  in  before  her. 

But  the  words  of  Moses  bear  also  a  farther  sense,  yet  not 
what  the  writer  I  have  cited  would  put  upon  them.  God 
created  Tuan  to  be  immortal,  and  made  him  an  im,age  of 
his  own  eternity?  Now  here  a  great  original  difference  may 
appear  to  have  been  intended  between  the  spirit  of  man^ 
that  goeth  upward,  and  the  spirit  of  the  beast  that  goeth 
downward:'^  and  that  Moses  had  in  view  this  particular, 
when  he  said  of  man,  that  he  was  created  in  the  image  of 
God,  seems  agreeable  to  the  reason  given  for  the  early  law 
pronounced  against  murder:  whoso  sheddeth  man's  blood, 
by  man  shall  his  blood  be  shed:  for  in  the  image  of  God 
made  he  man?  God  so  made  man  to  be  immortal,  that  it  is 
a  high  insult  and  violence  against  the  design  of  God's  crea- 
tion, to  put  an  end  by  murder  to  the  life  of  man.     Therefore, 

«  Psalm  civ,  16.  9  1  Cor.  xi,  7. 

>  1  would  here  observe,  that  in  ancient  times,  contrary  to  our  modern  cus- 
toms, the  having  the  head  free,  or  without  the  incumbrance  of  being  covered, 
was  a  mark  of  dignity  and  superiority;  and,  on  the  contrary,  to  wear  a  co- 
vering on  the  head  was  a  token  of  inferiority  and  subjection. 

2  Wisdom  ii,  23.  3  Eccles.  iii,  21.  *  Gen,  is,  6. 


104  THE  CREATION  AND  CHAP.  V. 

surely  at  the  hand  of  every  marCs  brother  will  God  require 
the  life  of  man.^  This  explains  our  Saviour's  calling  the 
Devil  a  murderer  from  the  beginning  f  he  had  acted  con- 
trary to  the  design  of  God  concerning  the  life  of  man,  be- 
cause, when  God  had  created  man  in  his  own  image,  to  be 
an  image  of  his  own  eternity,  to  be  immortal,  nevertheless^ 
through  envy  of  the  Devil,  death  came  into  the  world.'' 

Thus,  if  we  explain  the  text  of  Moses,  without  going  be- 
yond what  was  intended  by  it,  we  shall  find,  that  it  means 
no  more,  than  that  man  was  originally  made  of  a  more  ex- 
cellent form  than  all  other  creatures,  and  that  he  was  made  to 
be  immortal,  had  not  death,  which  God  did  not  make  for 
man,^  come  into  the  world  through  sin.^  There  is  very  little 
foundation  to  infer  from  this  text,  that  Moses  intended  to  re- 
present, that  man  was  made  to  resemble  his  Maker  in  his 
powers  of  knowledge. 


5  Chap,  ix,  5.  ''  Jolin  viii,  44.  '  Wisdom  ii,  24. 

8  Chap,  i,  13.  9  Kom.  v,  12. 

'  If  we  examine  what  the  heatlieii  inquirers  argued  upon  tliis  subject,  we 
shall  find  them  far  more  correct  than  our  modern  reasoners.  Tliey  all,  in- 
deed, except  a  more  seiisiial  sect,  Epicurus  and  his  followers  (see  Cic.  de  Nat. 
Ueor.  lib.  i,  c.  18,)  saw  plainly,  that  man  could  in  nowise  resemble  Gon  in  liis 
outward  form  and  figure.  Therefore  they  would  have  understood  Moses's 
expression  of  man's  being  made  in  the  image  o/God,  as  to  his  outward  form,  in 
no  liigher%ense  than  I  have  above  mentioned;  namely,  that  man  was  of  an 
extraordinary  and  singular  make,  eminent  above  other  creatures,  of  a  form 
appropriated  to  man.  As  to  his  inward  powers,  they  saw  in  them  what  was 
iar  more  worthy  than  his  outward  person  to  be  compared  to  God.  "Tu — sic 
l\abeto  NON  esse  te  MORTAtEX,  sED  conpus  hoc.  Nee  enim  is,  quem  forma  ista 
declarat,  sed  mens  cujiisque  is  est  quisque  ;  non  cafigura,  qusc  digito  demon- 
strari  potest:  Deum  te  igitur  scito  esse,  siquidem  Deus  est,  qui  viget,  qui 
sentit,  qui  meminit,  qui  providet,  qui  tam  regit  et  moderatur  et  movet  id 
corpus  cui  prse'positus  est,  quam  hunc  muiidum  ille  princeps  Deus."  Cic.  Somn. 
Scipionis.  But  however  they  thus  thought  in  general  terms  of  a  resemblance 
in  man  of  the  divine  nature,  they  always,  when  the  subject  called  for  it,  so 
explained  themselves  as  not  loosely  to  assert,  that  in  man,  "  motus  iste  celer 
cogitationis,  acumen,  solertia,  quam  ratlonem  vocamus  (Cic.  de  Nat.  Deor. 
lib.  iii,  c.  27,)  the  mere  faculty  of  human  reason  made  man  like  to  God.  'I'hey 
rather  argued,  thai  the  likeness  of  man  to  Gou  arose  from  this  faculty  so  ma- 
naged ami  conducted  that  we  might  possess  virtue.  '•  Ad  similitudinem  Deo 
propius  accedtbat  humana  virtus  quam  figura."  Cic.  de  Nat.  Deoi-.  lib.  i,  c.  34. 
And  thus  Plato,  bx  ss"/v  uuTm  o/j^ohtatcv  ouJiv  n  o;  «v  ilf^alv  au  yiv»Tsu  on  SuaucruTOt. 
Plat,  in  Theaetet.  Thus  again,  ' O/jK^tue-t;  S-m— tfixswsv  )uu  iucicv  //.srrt  fprnm-iw; 
yiviT^j.1.  Id.  ibid  Again,  'O  /utv  a-u<ff.aiY  rfxctv  S^ai  p/xsc,  c/uotoc  yufi'  o  Je  /un  j-a^fuv 
oCvofxoio;  Ti  K-jLi  J/a^i/ist  X.CU  aJiiic;.  I'lat.  dc  l^egib.  lib.  iv.  We  are  here  to  observe, 
that  these  ancients,  in  nowise  like  our  modern  rationalists,  ci'udely  affirm, 
that  man  is  endowed  with  moral  faculties,  resembling  the  moral  perfections  of 
his  Creator;  but  they  distinguish  the  faculties  of  man,  as  then  only  rendering 
us  like  God  when  they  are  so  conducted  as  to  make  us  a-uffcvii:,  so  truly  wise 
as  to  be  really  viitiious.  They  did  not  deterrnlnc,  that  our  likeness  to  God 
consisted  in  ovu-  barely  having  a  faculty  of  free  itason ;  but  they  considered, 
that  we  could  then  only  be  like  God  when  we  became  just  and  holy,  Suxtoi  kai 
oTiot  fjiiTf-  ffoviia-fai;'  or,  in  other  words,  when  wc  attained  a  right  umlerstavdiuff 
to  depart  from  inigvity.  They  observed  the  diflTcrence  between  reason  and  right 
reason :  they  pointed  out  a  height  of  reason,  with  which  whosoever  are  endued, 
may  in  all  things  act  intuitively  aright;  but  this  they  allowed  to  be  above 
man :  "  Quartus  autero  grudus  et  altissimus  est  eorem  qui  natura  boni  s.ipicn- 


CHAP.  V.  FALL  OF  MAN.  105 

deducible  from  this  text,  that  it  is  absolutely  contradictory  to 
what  Moses  expresses  upon  the  subject ;  for  their  desire  to  be 
he  Elohim,  as,  or  like  to,  God  in  knowing^  was  the  mistake 
which  caused  our  first  parents'  ruin. 

Let  us  now  see  how  the  other  text  will  answ^er  the  purpose 
designed  to  be  served  by  it.  God,  said  Solomon,  7nade  man 
upright'?  the  words  of  Solomon  are,  God  made  the  man, 
jashar,  which  we  might  render  aright :  Goo  implanted  in 
him  nothing  that  was  wrong.  Adam,  before  the  fall,  had  not 
in  him  the  evil  inclinations  of  a  corrupt  nature,  and  the  not 
having  these  was  the  rectitude  in  which  he  was  created.  When 
the  sentence  of  death  passed  upon  him,  he,  who  before  was 
an  image  of  God's  eternity,  was  now  become  mortal,  his  body 
became  corruptible  :  and  a  corruptible  body  presseth  down 
the  soul^  He  now  began  to  have  sensual  appetites  and  de- 
sires, which  created  him  many  inclinations  which  he  had  to 
strive  against,  if  he  would  strive  against  sin.  He  was  now 
fallen  into  the  imperfection  under  which  we  all  labour. 


Video  meliora  proboqiie 


Deteriora  sequor  • 

He  might  now  many  times  see  and  approve  the  things,  which 
are  most  excellent,  and  yet  have  a  heart  that  might  cause  him 
often  to  be  such  as  the  best  of  us  are,  who,  as  there  is  no 
man  upon  Earth  that  sinneth  not,^  do  in  many  things 
offend  all.^  But  though  before  he  became  corruptible  he  had 
not  in  him  those  evil  appetites,  which  are  since  grown  so 
powerful  in  our  nature ;  yet  it  will  not  follow,  that  God  ori- 
ginally gave  him  such  a  beam  of  unerring  understanding  as  to 
place  him  in  a  light,  which  would  not  admit  of  mistake  and 
error. 

Decipimur  specie  recti 

Hob. 

To  this  failure  Adam  was  subject  in  his  first  estate ;  and  herein 
it  was  that  he  fell  from  it :  both  Eve  and  he  judged  what  the 
tempter  proposed  to  them  to  be  very  right,  although  it  was 
grossly  wrong,  and  in  the  error  of  their  judgment  they  went 
astray ;  their  appetites  were  not  the  strength  which  prevailed 


tesque  giguuntur,  quibus  a  principio  innascitur  ratio  recta,  constansque,  quae 
supra  hominem  putanda  est,  Deoque  tribuenda."  Cic.  lib.  ii,  c.  13.  Herein 
they  stated  the  great  difference  between  the  human  nature  and  divine ;  thev 
allowed  God  to  be  the  standard  of  all  rectitude  and  truth ;  but  the\  ;iffirnied, 
that  man  in  nowise  was  so,  but  wanted  a  measure  or  rule  to  adjust  his  judg- 
ment by,  in  order  to  act  aright.  'O  cf«  Gecj  ii^/v  Tra.vrm  ;^;/j))^aTfflv  (/.irrfov " u^v  "s<» 
fA.u\i^ct,  KU.I  TTCAu  f^etKKov  >i  TTn  T/c,  QC  <(iMt\i,  avSrfaTToc.  Plato  de  Leg.  lib.  iv.  ■\Vl)icli 
one  point,  duly  considered,  is  that  sobriety  of  knowing  and  estimating  our- 
selves, which  will  lead  us  to  admit,  both  the  sentiments  I  have  above  observed 
that  Moses  hinted,  and  what  1  endeavour  to  build  upon  it, 

2  Gen.  iii,  5.  3  Eccles.  vii,  29,  "  Wisd.  ix,  15. 

*  1  King-s  viii,  46.  »  James  iii,  2. 


I 


106  THE  CREATION  AND  CHAP.  \ . 

against  them.  In  their  judgment  lay  their  weakness ;  they 
were  misled,  they  were  deceived.  Thus  St,  Paul  speaks  of 
their  transgressions,  not  imputing  it  to  their  corrupt  inclina- 
tions, but  to  their  erring  in  their  understanding  ;  the  serpent 
beguiled  Eve  through  his  subtlety;^  the  insinuation  of  the 
tempter  became  too  subtle  for  them.  Herein,  therefore,  the 
writers,  who  use  the  text  of  Solomon  with  the  view  above 
mentioned,  mistake  his  true  meaning.  From  Solomon's  as- 
serting, that  God  made  man  upright,  they  would  infer,  that 
God  gave  Adam  a  perfection  of  actual  understanding,  by 
which  he  might,  without  farther  direction,  have  devised  his 
own  way  aright,  to  complete  himself  in  every  moral  virtue ; 
whereas  Solomon  says  no  more  than  that  God  made  man 
(jashar)  rectus,  i.  e.  not  crooked  or  perverse;  or,  as  we 
render  it  in  English,  upright,  i.  e.  not  inclined  or  propense 
to  evil.  Solomon  says,  that  Adam  had  originally  a  rectitude 
of  heart  or  inclination  ;  but  these  writers  would  infer,  that 
he  had  a  perfection  of  head,  an  unerring  judgment ;  whereas 
these  are  two  very  different  things.  I  can  apprehend,  that 
Adam  had  a  natural  capacity,  quick  and  lively,  far  greater 
than  we  have  ;  but  as  he  had  far  less  acquaintance  with,  and 
information  of,  the  nature  of  things  than  even  we  have  had, 
his  actual  knowledge,  at  the  time  of  his  being  seduced,  must, 
have  been  less  than  our  knowledge  is  ;  consequently,  it  hap- 
pened in  fact,  that  he  erred  in  a  matter,  wherein  no  one  of  a 
moderate  share  of  improved  understanding  would  have  been 
so  grossly  mistaken. 

But  may  we  not  correct  a  little  the  expressions  used  in 
setting  forth  this  pretended  rational  scheme  contended  for, 
and  query  upon  the  subject  as  follows?  Is  not  the  spirit  of 
man  the  candle  of  the  Lord?^  Is  there  not  a  spirit  in  man^ 
created  with  abilities  of  reasoning  suited  to  his  state  ?  Is  there 
not  herein  a  natural  inspiration  of  the  Almighty  to  give 
m,an  understanding^  as  soon  as  he  grows  up  to  know  the 
use  of  it?  And  if  Adam  was  created  not  a  child,  but  a  man'; 
if  he  was  created  upright,  having  a  right  heart  not  biassed  by 
evil  appetites;  must  he  not  have  had  all  the  powers  of  a  sound 
mind?  And  what  can  we  say  or  think  he  could  want  more? 
Would  not  things  have  gradually  appeared  to  him  in  their 
true  light?  His  mind  not  corrupted  would  have  admitted 
them  to  have  been  rationally  considered ;  and  his  knowledge, 
as  it  grew  and  increased,  being  sincere  and  unbiassed,  would 


'  2  Corinthians  xi,  3. 

»  Proverbs  xx,  27. 

9  Job  xxxii,  8. 

'  Ibid.  1  tlunk  I  need  not  here  observe,  that  the  word  nctt'J  here  used, 
which  we  translate  inspiration,  is  the  word  used  by  Moses,  Gen.  ii,  7,  to  signify 
the  inspiration,  or  breath  ofhfe;  and  that  tlierefore  we  may  justly  here  take  it 
to  mean,  not  what  we  Cliristians  call  the  grace  of  God,  but  rather  that  original 
ability  of  mind  which  God  has  given  unto  man. 


CHAP.  V.  FALL  OF  MAN.  107 

have  led  him  in  a  right  use  of  his  reason^  unto  true  senti- 
ments of  his  duty,  as  the  relations  of  life  came  to  be  known 
to  him;  so  that  he  might  by  his  own  natural  light  have  gone 
wisely  and  virtuously  through  the  world.  I  might  cite  many 
passages  from  the  best  and  most  virtuous  heathen  writers,  to 
show,  that  they  seem  sometimes  to  have  thought  the  human 
ability  of  this  sort.^  But  I  might  again  cite  other  places  from 
them,  which  lay  a  foundation  for  not  being  positive  in  this 
nice  disquisition  ;•*  and  herein  they  preserved  a  sincerity  of 
inquir}^,  far  more  to  be  respected  than  the  arrogant  forward- 
ness of  our  modern  contenders  for  the  sufficiency  of  human 
reason.  These  latter  seldom  fail  to  show  an  unwarrantable 
disposition  to  assume,  without  proving,  that  God  gave  no 
revelation,  until  men  had  first  departed  from  the  guidance  of 
their  reason,  and  wanted  to  be  brought  back,  to  be  told  the 
use  and  the  light  of  it.  And  they  hastily  conclude,  that,  if 
human  reason  at  first  was  not  in  itself  a  sufficient  guide  and 
direction  for  man,  it  will  follow,  that  God  did  not  sufficiently 
provide  for  him.  They  tell  us,  "  that  God  at  first  left  men  to 
the  guidance  of  natural  light,  by  a  due  use  of  reason  to  dis- 
cover what  best  became  the  station  they  were  placed  in,  and 
what  duties  were  incumbent  upon  them,  in  the  relation  they 
stood  to  God  as  their  Creator,  and  to  one  another  as  fellow- 
creatures;  expecting  no  service  from  them,  but  what  their 
own  reason  would  suggest,  and  the  very  nature  and  circum- 
stances of  their  being  would  have  recommended."  And  they 
add,  that  "  God  did  not  interpose  until  man  had  herein  greatly 


2  Xlnvra.  TA  Trpof  txv  KTii<Ttv  rw  ttya^a>v  a-uvriKuvrx  S'lu  0pci^ittv  -j-Tnyfu-^tt  « 
Xd^oc  TO  T«c  4"^"^  ttvroicivn'Tov.     Hierocles. 

3  Est  quidem  vera  lex,  recta  ratio,  naturae  congrucns,  diffusa  in  omnes,  con- 
stans,  sempiterna,  quae  vocet  ad  officium  jubendo  ;  vetando  a  fraude  deterreat. 
Cic.  de  Rep.  lib.  iii,  in  Fragment.  Erat  enim  ratio  profecta  a  rerum  natura  et 
ad  recte  faciendum  impellens  et  a  delicto  avocans.     Id.  de  Leg',  lib.  ii. 

*  Si  tales  nos  natura  genuisset,  ut  earn  ipsam  intueri  et  perspicere,  eademque 
optima  duce  cursum  vit?e  conficere  possemus  ;  baud  erat  sane  quod  quisquam 
ralioncm  ac  doctrinam  requireret :  nunc  parvulos  nobis  dedii  igniculos,  quos 
celeriter  malis  moribus  opinionibusqvie  deprivati  sic  restinguimus,  ut  nusquam 
naturse  lumen  appareat.  Cic,  Tusc.  Qusest.  lib.  iii.  in  init.  Est  profecto  animi 
medicina  philosophia.  Id.  ibid.  This  able  writer  appears  to  me  here  to  al- 
low, that  men  by  nature  are  not  so  made  as  to  look  at  once  to  tlie  bottom  and 
truth  of  things ;  to  see  without  farther  information,  than  the  prompt  suggestion 
of  their  own  reasonings,  the  true  relation.?  of  things  and  the  moral  duties  of 
their  lives.  Had  he  known  what  we  do  from  Moses,  of  the  true  origin  of  man- 
kind, he  would,  I  dare  say,  have  allowed,  that  it  might  be  necessary  for  man, 
when  he  first  came  into  the  world,  not  to  be  left  absolutely  to  himself,  to  be 
guided  by  the  parvulos  igiiiculos,  as  he  calls  them,  which  God  had  given  him. 
He  wimld  have  considered  man,  as  not  admitted  naturam  ipsam  inttieri,  but  so 
far  only  endowed,  as  that  though  he  had  received  rationem  a  Deo,  yet  he  might 
make  it  bonam  aut  non  bonam  a  seipso.  (The  reader  may  find  this  sentiment 
suggested  by  one  of  the  disputants,  in  Cic.  de  Nat.  Deor.  lib,  iii.)  Therefore 
he  would  have  rejoiced  in  the  clear  light,  which  he  would  have  had,  of  man's 
having  all  the  rationem  et  disciplinam,  which  he  supposes  him  to  want,  from  the 
directions,  which,  over  and  above  his  reason,  God  began,  as  soon  as  man  came 
into  being,  by  express  revelation  to  give  unto  him. 


108  THE  CREATION  AND         CHAP.  V. 

failed."  But  all  this  is  directly  contrary  to  what  Moses  in- 
forms us;  according  to  whom,  after  Adam  was  created,  before 
he  had  time  to  do,  I  might  say,  to  think,  of  good  or  evil,  the 
voice  of  God  commanded  him,  saying,  Of  every  tree  of  the 
f^arden  thou  may  est  freely  eat,  but  of  the  tree  of  the  know- 
ledge of  good  and  evil  thou  shall  not  eat  of  it :  for  in  the 
day  that  thou  eatcst  thereof  thou  shall  surely  die.^  A 
command  was  herein  given,  such  as  the  reason  of  man  would 
not  have  investigated,  had  not  the  voice  of  God  appointed  it 
to  him ;  consequently,  a  service  or  observation  was  herein 
expected  from  him,  other  than  what  his  own  reason  would 
have  suggested.  But  these  writers  will  perhaps  say  of  this 
particular  command,  that  it  is  allegory  and  not  a  fact.  Let 
us  then  proceed,  and  we  shall  find,  that  as  soon  as  Eve  was 
created,  Adam  and  she  were  told,  that  a  man  should  leave 
his  father  and  mother,  and  should  cleave  unto  his  wife, 
and  that  they  should  be  one  flesh.  This  command,  as  Moses 
states  it,  was,  our  Saviour  tells  us,  spoken  to  them  by  the 
voice  of  God.  Herein,  then,  there  is  no  allegory;  herein  we 
have  the  witness  of  a  greater  than  Moses,  that  Moses  related 
what  was  really  fact.  And  it  is  a  testimony,  which,  duly  con- 
sidered, will  prove,  that  both  our  Saviour  used,  and  the  Jews 
also,  to  whom  our  Saviour  spake,  received  the  accounts  of 
what  Moses  relates  to  have  been  done  in  the  beginning,  not 
as  allegory  and  fable,  but  to  be  read  and  cited  as  true  history.** 
God,  in  fact,  declared  to  Adam  and  Eve,  what  was  to  be  the 
inseparable  union  of  man  and  wife ;  and  therefore  herein  they 
were  not  "left  at  first  to  the  guidance  of  natural  light,  by  a 
due  use  of  reason  to  discover  what  best  became  the  station 
they  were  placed  in  to  one  another ;"  but  received  a  special 
direction  by  an  audible  voice  from  their  Maker  concerning 
this  relation  of  life,  before  they  had  in  any  one  thing  failed  in 
the  use  of  their  reason. 

What  these  writers  say  farther,  that  to  suppose  reason,  the 
reason  of  man,  "  in  itself  in  any  state  or  circumstances  an  in- 
sufficient guide,  is  directly  to  impeach  the  Author  of  reason; 
is  to  say,  that  God  did  not  give  man  sufficient  abilities  to 
know  and  to  do  his  duty."  This  is  equally  dogmatical;  con- 
tradictory to  what  we  are  informed  by  Moses  was,  in  fact, 
the  manner  in  which,  and  the  abilities  with  which,  Adam  and* 
Eve  were  brought  into  the  world.  Moses  does  not  say,  that 
God  originally  gave  Adam  a  sufiiciency  of  knowledge,  for  him 
to  depend  solefy  upon  it;  but  he  abundantly  shows  us,  that 
man  was  not  left  insufficiently  provided  for,  because  he  shows 
us  how^  God  would  by  his  voice  have  directed,  as  directions 
would  be  necessary  for  him.     Upon  the  whole,  the  texts  of 


5  Gen.  ii,  16,  17. 

«  Have  ye  not  read?  said  our  Saviour,  appealing,  as  to  fact,  to  what  was  re- 
corded in  Moses's  writing.,.    See  Matt,  xix,  4,  Sic.  above  cittd. 


CHAP.  V.  FALL  OF  MAN.  109 

Scripture  above  cited,  to  show  that  there  is  in  man  a  light  of 
reason,  do  in  nowise  determine  to  what  degree  it  is  given ; 
therefore  they  are  not  in  themselves  conclusive  against  the 
necessity  of  revelation.  And  whatever  else  has  been  offered, 
may  at  best  be  but  the  conceits  of  mere  imagination,  and 
therefore  intrinsically  vain ;  so  that  I  apprehend,  if  we  would 
proceed  as  we  ought  in  this  inquiry,  it  may  pertinently  be  ex- 
amined, whether  in  the  reason  of  things  it  may  not  be  right, 
that  the  infinite  Creator  should  make  a  rank  of  rational  beings, 
so  far  endowed  with  reason,  as  to  be  above  the  restraint  and 
confinement  of  instinct;  and  yet  not  endued  with  so  unerring 
a  beam  of  reason,  as  to  need  no  farther  direction,  than  what 
would  arise  from  the  intimations  of  their  own  breasts.  After 
such  an  inquiry,  carefully  made,  we  may  consider  whether 
man  was  the  creature  made,  in  this  rank;  and  whether  the  di- 
rections mentioned  by  Moses,  as  originally  given  to  the  man, 
may  not  be  apprehended  to  have  been  the  most  proper  means 
to  supply  his  defects,  to  make  him  perfect,  thoroughly  fur- 
nished unto  every  thing  necessary  to  answer  the  great  end  of 
his  creation  and  being. 


Vol.  IV. 


CHAPTER  VI. 


Coneernmg  the  Points  above  stated. 


THE  creation  of  God,  as  far  as  we  can  examine  it,  in  the 
things  which  may  be  known  by  us,  shows  a  wonderful  con- 
nection between  all  things.  If  we  go  to  what  I  would  call 
the  lowest,  the  most  dead,  and  inorganical  parts  of  matter  ; 
it  is  a  question,  whether  vegetative  life  does  not  subsist  in  all. 
It  is  indeed  so  slow  in  some,  that  it  will  escape  our  first  in- 
spection ;  but  stones  and  minerals  in  time  show  enough  of  it 
to  apprise  us,  though  it  be  hard  to  conceive  how  small  its 
first  beginnings  are,  that  probably  there  is  not  any  thing  in 
the  natural  world  wherein  it  really  is  not  to  be  found.  We 
may  trace  a  gradual  increase  of  the  circulation  of  it  from  the 
more  inert  parts,  as  it  were,  of  matter,  to  trees,  shrubs, 
plants,  and  flowers ;  whose  living  growth  is  more  and  more 
conspicuous,  and  daily  ornamented  with  new  appearances  of 
accrescent  variety  and  alteration.  And  how  near  do  some  of 
these  come  to  almost  a  visible  connection  with  the  animal 
world  ?  It  is  difficult  to  ascertain  how  much  more  sensation 
there  is  in  an  oyster,  if  there  really  are  not  living  animals  of 
less  sensation  than  an  oyster,  of  whose  motion  we  can  haraly 
say  more,  than  that  it  opens  its  shell,  to  take  in  the  water 
and  soil  which  is  to  feed  it,  and  shuts  at  the  approach  of  any 
thing  which  may  more  sensibly  afiect  it ;  than  in  those  plants 
which  open  their  flowers  to  the  soft  and  warm  air,  but  will 
instantly  close  up  and  shrivel,  if  any  grosser  object  be  moved 
near  enough  to  touch  them.  If  we  proceed  through  the  in- 
numerable varieties  of  animal  life,  until  we  come  to  those 
beings  in  whom  the  breath  is  most  conspicuous  ;  if  we  con- 
sider the  difference  of  discernment  in  tliese,  and  carry  on  the 
progression  until  we  enter  the  rational  world,  we  may  find™ 
says  an  ingenious  writer,^  that  some  brutes  seem  to  have  as 

•  See  Locke's  Essay  on  the  Human  Understanding,  book  iii,  e,  6, 


112  THE  CllEATIOX  AND  CHAP.  VI. 

much  reason  and  knowledge  as  some,  who  are  called  men  : 
so  that  the  animal  and  rational  creation  do  so  nearly  approach, 
that  if  you  take  the  highest  of  the  one,  and  compare  it  with 
the  lowest  of  the  other,  there  will  scarcely  be  perceived  a 
difference  between  them.  The  variety  in  the  capacities  of 
men  being  considered,  will  'carry  us  over  a  vast  field,  and 
bring  us  to  the  borders  of  the^ngelic  state  ;  for  man  was  made 
only  a  little  lower  than  the  angels.'^  How  far,  had  sin  not 
come  into  the  world,  and  death  by  sin,  the  highest  and  most 
perfect  men  might  have  improved  and  come  near  to  the  lowest 
order  of  angels,  we  cannot  sa}^  But  if,  from  what  we  can 
see  of  the  creation,  we  may  reason  concerning  things  invisible, 
supposing  that  God  created  the  first  man  with  the  highest 
capacity,  which  could  belong  to  his  rank  of  being,  yet  know- 
ing that  he  was  made  a  little  lower  than  the  angels,  that 
the  lowest  of  these  intelligences  was  made  greater  than  he, 
we  cannot  place  him  higher,  than  upon  an  ascent  next  be- 
tween the  animal  and  more  intellectual  state.  And  when 
we  consider  how  it  answers  the  analogy  of  things,  that  all 
the  intellectual  powers  should  rise  gradually,  one  order  above 
another,  to  complete  a  fulness  in  God's  creation  of  the  Hea- 
vens and  the  Earth,^  it  will  not  be  unreasonable  to  suppose, 
that  God  created  man  with  such  powers  indeed  of  reason,  as 
to  be  above  all  that  can  be  called  animal  life,  yet  not  with 
so  masterly  a  light  of  reason,  as  absolutely  to  want  no  as- 
sistant information.  Mr.  Pope  has  excellently  well  expressed 
what  I  am  aiming  at.  In  the  creation  of  God,  he  observes, 
that  as 

All  must  fall,  or  not  coherent  be, 


And  all  that  rises,  rise  in  due  degree ; 

Then,  in  the  scale  of  life  and  sense,  'tis  plain. 

There  must  be,  somewhere,  such  a  rank  as  man  ; 

Plac'd  on  the  isthmus  of  a  middle  state, 

A  being  darkly  wise  and  rudely  great.'* 

There  must  be  somewhere,  in  ascending  from  sense  to  the 
height  of  reason,  a  rank  of  creatures  above  the  confinement 
and  limitation  of  instinct,  but  not  so  perfect  in  their  powers 
of  reason,  as  to  stand  in  need  of  none  other  than  their  own 
direction. 

Of  this  rank  the  poet  deemed  man,  estimating  him  made 

With  too  much  knowledge  fur  tlie  sceptic  side. 
With  too  much  weakness  for  the  stoic's  pride.^ 


*  Heb.  ii,  7. 

3  Without  this  Plato  thought  the  Heavens  would  be  imperfect.  Ou/i«9 
«T«M)?  Sfau,  TO.  y<tp  wTAvra.  iv  awrif  yiVM  ^ctav  ouk  'i<U.  du  ii  U  /uoj.u  'r(\uos  iKxyj 
uvat.  Plato  in  Timaeo. 

*  Pope's  Essay  on  Man,  ep.  i,  and  ii, 
5  Ibid.  ep.  ii,  ver.  5. 


GHAP.  VI.  FALL  OF  MAN  113 

To  have  light  enough  to  see  how  he  may,  witli  a  sufficient 
certainty,  from  known  premises,  draw  many  important  con- 
clusions, but  not  light  enough  absolutely  to  rest  satisfied  in 
the  sufficiency  of  his  own  wisdom.''  The  poet  gives  us  many 
rational  intimations,  that  man  must  originally  have  been 
formed  in  this  line  of  being,  that  there  might  be  a  just  grada- 
tion in  the  works  of  God  : 


that  progressive  life  may  go 


Around  its  width,  its  depth  extend  below. 
Vast  chain  of  being !  which  from  God  began, 
Nature's  ethereal,  human,  angel,  man. 
Beast,  bird,  fish,  insect !  what  no  eye  can  see. 
No  glass  can  reacli !  from  infinite  to  thee. 
From  thee  to  nothing.^ 

The  poet  farther  expatiates  upon  the  subject  ; 

Far  as  creation's  ample  range  extends 
The  scale  of  sensual,  mental  pow'rs  ascends. 
Mark  how  it  mounts,  to  man's  imperial  race, 

From  the  green  myriads  in  the  peopled  grass ! 

How  instinct  varies  in  the  grovling  swine, 
Compar'd,  half-reas'ning elephant!  with  thine: 
'Twixt  that  and  reason  what  a  nice  barrier. 
For  ever  sep'rate,  yet  for  ever  near  !* 

And  he  farther  hints,  that  we  ought  not  to  think  it  wrong, 
i.hat  man,  made  to  be  of  this  order,  has  not  a  large  share  of 
reason  to  guide  him  : 


say  not  man's  imperfect,  Heav'n  in  fault. 


Say  rather  man's  as  perfect  as  he  ought : 
His  being  measur'd  to  his  state  and  place. 

Presumptuous  man !  the  reason  would'st  thou  find. 
Why  form'd  so  weak,  so  little,  and  so  blind; 
First,  if  thou  canst,  the  harder  reason  guess, 
AVhy  form'd  no  weaker,  blinder,  and  no  less. 

What  would  this  man  ?  would  he  now  upward  soar  ? 
And,  little  less  than  angel,  would  be  more  ? 

on  superior  powers 

Were  we  to  press,  interior  must  on  ours ; 

Or  in  the  full  creation  leave  a  void, 

AVhere  one  step  broken,  the  great  scale's  destroy'd. 

The  gen'ral  order  since  the  whole  began. 

Is  kept  in  nature,  and  is  kept  in  man.a 

These  sentiments  do,  I  think,  most  clearly  lead  us  to  see. 
that,  in  the  reason  of  things,  there  must  be  somewhere  in 
the  universe  a  being  of  such,  and  no  greater  powers  of  reason, 
than  are  here  supposed  to  belong  to  man.     And  that  this  is 


6  The  stoic's  pride,  here  hinted  at,  is,  I  think,  what  is  expressed  in  tlie 
latter  part  of  the  following  sentence  :  Judicium  hoc  wmnium  mortalium  est ; 
fortunam  a  Deo  petendam  esse,  a  seipso  sumendam  esse  sapientiam.  Vide 
Cic.  de  Nat  Deor.  lib.  iii,  c.  36. 

■^  Pope's  Essay  on  Man,  ep.  i,  ver.  235. 

«  Ibid.  ep.  i,  ver.  207,  and  221.  ^  Ibid.  ver.  35—163,  233. 


114  THE  CREATION,  &C.  CHAP.  VI. 

our  true  standard  has  been  the  opinion  of  the  best  writers,* 
and  has  been  confirmed  in  fact  by  the  experience  of  all  ages.' 
So  that  to  talk  of  man  having  unerring  reason,  or  of  our 
wanting  no  farther  instruction^  than  a  cai-eful  attendance  to 
the  result  of  our  own  judgment,  is  a  vanity,  which  might  be 
sufficiently  exposed  in  the  sentiment  mentioned  in  the  Book 
of  Job :  Vain  man  would  be  wise,  though  man  he  born 
like  a  wild  ass's  colt  :*  such  an  independence  of  understand- 
ing is  a  height  for  which  we  were  not  made.  We  may  think 
of  ourselves  as  we  please  ;  but  from  the  beginning  to  this 
time,  even  from  the  time  when  Adam  was  brought  into  the 
world  until  now,  he  that  has  thus  absolutely  trusted  in  his 
own  heart^  has  been  a  fool.  How  peculiar  then  is  it  to  the 
nature  of  man,  that  God,  as  soon  as  he  was  created,  made  to 
him,  as  Moses  relates,  an  especial  revelation  ?  If  the  per- 
fection of  man  could  have  arisen  merely  from  his  reason, 
without  doubt  no  such  revelation  would  have  been  given  him ; 
for  the  all-wise  God  does  nothing  superfluous  or  in  vain.*^ 
Therefore,  since  a  revelation  was  in  fact  made  to  man  in  the 
beginning ;  hence  we  know,  that  it  was  necessary,  and  that 
his  original  reason  was  not  alone  sufficient  for  him.  As  to 
those  who  say,  that  the  narration  of  a  revelation  made  to  the 
first  man  is  a  mere  allegory  and  fable ;  let  them  not  pretend 
to  argue,  that,  if  the  original  reason  of  man  was  not  alone  a 
sufficient  guide,  then  it  must  follow,  that  God  did  not  suffi- 
ciently provide  for  the  creature  made  thus  imperfect ;  for  the 
answer  hereto  is,  that  the  revelation  given  to  Adam,  and  in- 
tended to  have  been  continued  over  and  above  his  natural 
reason,  would  have  been  sufficient  for  man's  natural  weak- 
ness, and  have  thoroughly  instructed  him  more  and  more 
unto  every  good  work,  if  it  had  not  been  set  aside  and  dis- 
regarded by  him. 

•  It  is  the  sentiment  expressed  by  Cicero,  that  we  are  not  creatures  made 
able  by  nature,  "  naturam  ipsam  intueri  et  perspicere,  eademque  optima  duce 
Gursum  vitse  conficere ;"  but  that  we  want  for  this  purpose,  what  he  calls 
ratiovem  ac  doctritium,  having  only  i^niculos,  which,  it"  not  properly  fed  and 
cherished,  will  fail  and  be  extinguished.  See  Cic.  Tusc.  Quaest,  lib.  iii,  in 
princip.  sup.  cit.  Quiu-tus  auteni  i^radus  et  altissimus  eorum  est,  qui  natura 
boni  sapientesque  gignuntur:  quibus  a  principio  innascitur  ratio,  recta  con- 
stansque,  qua  supra" hominem  putanda  est,  deoque  tribuenda.  Cic.  de  Nat. 
Deor.  lib.  ii,  c   13. 

2  Our  Scriptures  rightly  tell  us,  that  there  is  no  man  loho  may  not  sin:  I 
Kings  viii,  46.  There  is  not  a  just  man  upon  Earth,  that  doeth  good  and  may 
not  'sin:  Kccles,  vii,  20.  The  philosophers  say,  Sapientiam  nemo  assequitur. 
Vide  Cic.  de  Nat.  Deor.  lib.  iii,  c.  32. 

3  Nam,  ut  nihil  mterest,  utrum  nemo  valeat,  an  nemo  possit  valere,  sic  non 
intelligo,  quid  intersit,  utrum  nemo  sit  sapiens,  an  nemo  esse  possit.  Vide 
Cic.  ibid. 

4  Job  xi,  12.  ''  Prov.  xxviil,  26. 

6  The  argument  used  by  the  apostle  concerning  the  law,  might,  I  tliink,  be 
justly  accommodaltd  to  the  topic  before  us,  in  words  as  follow  :  for,  if  tliere 
had  been  any  reason  given  unto  Adam,  such  us,  or  so  sufficient,  that  it  might 
have  given  him  life,  verily  his  righteousness  would  have  been  by  his  reason. 
See  Gal.  iii,  21. 


CHAPTER  VII. 


Some  farther  Considerations  concerning  the  original 
State  of  our  first  Parents  ;  the  JYature  of  the  first 
Command,  or  Prohibition  made  to  them  ;  and 
tvherein  consisted  the  Si7i  of  their  not  observing  it. 

THE  point  we  considered  in  the  foregoing  chapter  was, 
how  far  we  may  reasonably  conjecture,  from  the  rank  and 
order  of  being  in  which  man  was  formed,  that  he  was  made  a 
creature  not  of  absolute  independent  understanding.  I  would 
here  observe,  that  a  most  excellent  writer  has  hinted  to  us 
this  very  thing.  The  author  of  the  Book  of  Ecclesiasticus 
enumerates  those  endowments  with  which,  and  the  direction 
under  which  God  thought  fit  to  bring  our  first  parents  into 
the  world.  The  Lord,  he  says,  created  man  of  the  earth — 
they  received  the  use  of  the  five  operations  of  the  Lord,  and 
in  the  sixth  place  he  imparted  them,  understanding,  and 
in  the  seventh  speech,  an  interpreter  of  the  cogitations 
thereof:  counsel,  and  a  tongue,  eyes,  and  ears,  and  a  heart, 
gave  he  them  to  understand}  In  these  and  the  three  fol- 
lowing verses,  he  remarks,  how  God  gave  unto  man  his  five 
senses,  his  ability  of  speech  and  understanding.  But  he  had 
before  observed,  that  when  God  made  man  in  the  beginning, 
he  left  him  in  the  hand  of  his  counsel?  The  question  is, 
in  whose  counsel  was  man  now  left?  The  Latin  version  says 
sui  consilii,  his  oivn  counsel;  but  very  absurdly;  the  Greek 

text,  is  aifu^xtv   uvtov   ff   ;tstpe.   AtaffsJiia   avt>i'   not  tavta   his  Oiun, 

but  avts  his,  i.  e.  God's  counsel.  Now  this  truly  agrees 
with  what  follows  in  the  next  verse,  if  man^would  have  con- 
formed to  it;  his  duty  was  to  have  kept  the  commandments, 
jtat  wtftv  rtotijcfat.  sujoxtaj.^  He  was  to  have  paid  unto  God 
vrtaxoi^v  tr^^  citffcoj,  the  obedicnce  of  faith;  which  imitation 
is  no  other  than  what  is  the  substance  of  all  revealed  religion; 
that  xoithout  faith  it  was  impossible   man  should  please 

»  Ecclus.  xvii,  1— 9.  2  Chap,  xv,  14.  '  Ibid'. 


116  THE  CREATION  AND       CHAP.  VII. 

God;'*  for,  not  to  follow  absolutely  the  counsels  of  man's  own 
heart;*  but  to /ear  God,  and  io  keep  his  command nients^ 
was  to  have  been  the  whole  of  man.^  This  is  what  Moses 
sets  before  us,  who  tells  us,  that  God  made  man ;  but  over 
and  besides  making  him  a  living  soul,  and  creating  him,  as 
Solomon  speaks,  jashar,  aright,  having  nothing  in  him  un- 
meet for  an  intelligence  of  his  order  and  rank  in  being;  hav- 
ing given  him  senses  and  understanding  in  such  measure  as 
his  Maker  thought  fit  to  bestow  f  over  and  above  all,  he  gave 
him  a  commandment,  which,  if  he  would  have  faithfully  kept 
to  and  observed,  would  have  led  him  unto  every  thing  suffi- 
cient for  him.     But, ' 

The  difficulty,  which  objectors  raise  against  interpreting 
literally  what  Moses  relates  of  the  command  here  said  to  be 
given,  lies  in  their  conceiving  the  command  itself  as  in  nowise 
rationally  conducing  to  man's  perfection.  It  is  impossible, 
they  think,  that  such  a  being  as  God  is,  should  appoint  so 
great  a  weight,  of  the  happiness  or  misery  of  mankind,  to 
depend  upon  a  matter  in  itself  of  such  little  real  importance, 
as  the  eating  or  not  eating  of  the  fruit  of  a  particular  tree.* 
Here  I  confess  they  start,  what  ought  to  be  examined  very 
considerately,  and  is  not  to  be  so  hastily  determined  as  some 
imagine;  who,  I  think,  add  to,  instead  of  removing  the  stumb- 
ling-block by  their  unaccountable  ratiocinations.  They  say, 
"  God  had  laid  the  whole  stress  and  weight  of  his  authority 
upon  this  one  command:  if,"  say  they,  "you  suppose  a  case 
so  circumstanced,  that  if  a  son's  disobedience  to  a  father,  in 

4  Heb.  xi,  6. 

5  The  foUoxving  our  own  counsels  Is,  in  Scripture-meaning,  the  deserting  or 
departing  from  what  Gon  has  revealed,  to  do  what  seemeth  right  in  our  o~mii 
eyes.  See  Psal.  Ixxi,  11,  &c.,  and  many  other  places,  which  might  be  cited. 

6  Eccles.  xii,  13. 

">  Eccles.  vii,  20.  His  imperfect  reason  would  have  been  the  occasion  of  no 
evil,  if  he  had  not  departed  from  observing  the  commandments  of  God. 
Adam's  ability  of  reason  was  such  as  it  ought  to  be  in  one  of  his  rank  in 
being,  and  the  important  thing  to  him  was,  to 

Know  thy  own :  point  this  kind,  this  due  degree 
Of  blindness,  weakness,  Heav'n  bestows  on  thee. 

Pope,  ubi  sup. 

lie  ought  not  to  have  .limed  to  be  knowing  as  God,  but  obeying  what  God 
commanded  ;  thereby  to  have  learned  and  done  the  duties  of  his  life,  but, 


In  reas'ning  pride  our  error  lies, 


All  quit  their  sphere,  and  rush  into  the  skies  : 

Men  would  be  angels,  angels  would  be  gods : 
Aspiring  to  be  gods,  if  angels  fell ; 
A.spiring  to  be  angels,  men  rebel : 
And  who  but  wishes  to  invert  tiie  laws 
Of  order,  sins  against  th'  Eternal  Cause. 

Pope,  ubi  sup. 

8  Id  utique  videtur  gravissimum  et  asperrimum  quod  gentem  luimanam 
plexisse,  imo  perdidisse  dicatur  Deus  ob  rem  exiguam.  Burnet,  Archxol.  p. 
296. 


CHAP.  VII.  FALL  OF  MAN.  117 

some  one  particular,  in  itself  of  no  moment,  will  infer  not 
merely  a  neglect,  but  even  a  contempt  of  his  parent's  au- 
thority; be  the  matter  of  the  offence  what  it  will,  will  it  not 
deserve  the  severest  resentment?  What  the  son  thinks  a  tri- 
vial thing,  and  in  common  estimation  may  pass  as  such,  he 
will  presume  his  father  will  think  so  too;  but  had  his  father 
expressly  laid  the  whole  weight  of  his  authority  upon  this 
one  thing;  had  he  expressly  said  before-hand,  'Son,  what- 
ever else  you  may  think  to  do  to  please  or  show  regard  to 
me,  shall  have  no  acceptance,  unless  in  this  one  easy  thing, 
which  I  make  and  appoint  to  be  the  test  of  your  dut}',  you 
carefully  obey  me;  for,  upon  your  failure  herein,  I  will  most 
absolutely  treat  you  as  a  rebel' — should  the  son,  after  all  this, 
presume  to  offend  in  this  one  point,  would  any  reasonable 
man  plead  that  it  is  excusable?  I  confess,  such  a  defence  as 
this  shocks  me  exceedingly;  for  it  is  obvious  that  the  unbe- 
liever will  readily  reply,  "  Should  a  man  build  the  most  mag- 
nificent habitation  in  the  world,  and  add  to  it  in  estate  every 
desirable  possession;  but  in  some  one  room  of  his  house 
should  set  up  a  piece  of  wood,  with  this  strict  prohibition  to 
his  son:  '  As  a  mark  of  my  authority,  as  a  test  of  your  obe- 
dience, to  me,  your  father,  I  command  that  this  one  piece  of 
wood  be  never  touched  by  you :  for  I  have  made  it  my  will, 
that  if  ever  you  touch  it,  an  absolute  disherison  shall  take 
place  against  you  and  your  posterity  for  ever' — should  the 
son  now  offend  herein,  I  will  not,"  says  the  free-thinker, 
"  ask  so  much  as  a  question  about  the  son :  I  give  him  up  for 
a  fool,  to  receive  the  fruits  of  his  trifling  impertinence.  But 
I  must  inquire  concerning  the  father :  what  may  posterity, 
considering  such  a  ruin  of  a  whole  family  unto  all  genera- 
tions, think  of  him,  who  made  so  trifling  an  injunction  so  pe- 
remptory and  so  penal?" 

It  will  not  be  admitted  that  we  write  worthily  of  God,  if 
we  suppose  that  he  gave  Adam  a  commandment  of  no  real 
moment;  only  to  make  his  neglect,  if  he  should  happen  to 
neglect  it,  most  terribly  destructive.  God  is  not  man,  that 
he  should  lay  the  stress  of  his  authority  in  caprice;  upon  a 
matter  of  no  moment,  whether  it  be  observed  or  not.  There- 
fore, if  we  would  give  him  the  honour  due  unto  his  name,  it 
will  be  proper  to  inquire,  considering  the  nature  of  man,  such 
as  God  had  made  him;  whether  such  a  command,  as  Moses 
describes  in  the  prohibition  of  the  forbidden  tree,  was  not 
highly  fit,  I  might  say,  necessary  to  be  given  him?  and 
whether,  this  command  being  broken,  it  could  otherwise  be, 
in  the  reason  and  nature  of  things,  as  God  had  made  them, 
unless  he  had  created  them  anew,  than  that  the  punishment 
and  ruin  threatened  for  man  must  take  place;  for  otherwisCj 
lie  might  not  have  had  a  way  back  to  honour,  glory,  and  im- 
mortality. If  we  can,  in  such  examination  as  this,  search  and 
find  any  grounds  to  believe  that  God,  in  what  Moses  writes. 

Vol.  IV.  Q 


118  THE  CREATION  AND        CHAP.  VII. 

had  dispensed  to  our  first  parents  no  otherwise,  than  what  was 
suitable  and  agreeable  to  their  natures,  we  shall  se&  great  rea- 
son for  all  that  is  set  before  us  concerning  the  proceedings  of 
his  providence,  as  Moses  has  related  them. 

The  prophet  Jeremiah  argued  with  the  Jews,  that  God 
spake  not  unto  their  fathers — concerning  burnt  offerings 
and  sacrifices :  but  this  thing  commanded  he  them.)  say- 
ing, obey  my  voice,  and  I  will  be  your  God,  andyf.  shall  be 
ony  people.^  Hence  arises  a  directing  intimation,  that  the 
great  end  and  design  of  the  legal  institutions  were  to  disci- 
pline and  to  exercise  the  Jews  to  obey  God.  In  like  manner, 
when  God  thought  fit  to  make  the  covenant  of  circumcision 
with  Abraham ;  the  declared  design  of  what  was  instituted 
was,  that  Abraham  should  walk  before  God,  and  thereby  be. 
jierfect}  Thus  we  are  to  consider  the  commandment  given 
to  Adam  concerning  the  forbidden  tree;  not  as  if  God  spake 
to  him  concerning  a  tree,  merely  to  preserve  it  inviolate;  but 
herein  he  commanded  him  this  one  thing,  namely,  obey  iny 
voice  indeed;  to  do  whatever  I  shall  declare  to  be  the  duties 
of  thy  life.  Not  that  God  required,  that  man  should  obey 
his  voice  merely  for  the  sake  of,  and  to  lay  a  stress  upon  his 
own  authority :  but,  because  it  was  necessar}^  for  man,  not  to 
be  left  to  his  own  guidance,  but  to  be  kept  in  the  hand  of 
God's  counsel.  Adam,  when  created,  was  not  so  made,  that 
directions  absolutely  right  in  themselves  would  occur  from 
his  own  judgment  of  things,  for  the  whole  guidance  of  his 
life;  and  therefore  God  gave  him  a  command  not  to  eat  of  a 
particular  tree,  as  he  afterwards  gave  to  Abraham  the  com- 
mand of  circumcision.  As  Abraham  received  the  command 
of  circumcision  to  be  the  sign,  a  seal  of  the  righteousness  of 
faith^  so  Adam  received  the  command  of  not  eating  of  the 
forbidden  tree  to  be  a  sign,  an  attestation,  a  standing  and  in- 
violate memorial,  that  he  was  not  to  follow  his  own  inventions, 
but  truly  and  faithfully  to  obey  God. 

If  we  consider  the  commandment,  concerning  the  forbidden 
tree,  in  this  light ;  the  narration  will  be  greatly  cleared  from 
those  difficulties,  which  are  surmised  to  be  in  what  Moses  hath 
said.  In  every  revelation,  which  God  hath  made  unto  men, 
it  is  observable,  that  some  positive  institution  or  institutions 
are  enjoined,  for  the  receivers  of  such  revelations  truly  to  pay 
unto  God,  in  obeying  them,  the  obedience  of  faith ;  ?".  e.  to 
believe  and  do  whatever  God  is  pleased  to  declare  or  demand 
of  them.  Thus  we  receive  the  two  ordinances,  which  Christ 
liath  appointed  us  in  the  New  Testament,  baptism,  and  the 
communion  of  bread  and  wine.  Thus  the  Jews  were  bound 
to  observe  the  rites,  and  to  make  the  sacrifices  of  the  law  by 
Moses  ;  even  as  Abraham  before  received  the  command  of 


0  Jerem.  vii,  22,  23.  '  Gen.  xvii, 

"  Rom.  iv,  1 1. 


CHAP.  VII.  FALL  OF  MAN.  119 

circumcision.^  And  thus  unto  Adam  was  given  the  injunc- 
tion not  to  eat  of  that  particular  tree,  which  was  called  the 
tree  of  knowledge  of  good  mid  evil.  Of  which  command  we 
can  no  more  say,  that  God  did  not  literally  enjoin  our  first 
parents  not  to  eat  of  that  tree,  than  we  can  say,  that  he  did 
not  literally  enjoin  Abraham  the  circumcision  of  the  flesh;  or 
the  Israelites  to  ojQTer  the  sacrifices,  which  are  directed  in  the 
law;  or  us  Christians  the  washing  of  water  in  baptism,  and 
the  eating  of  bread  and  drinking  of  wine  in  remembrance  of 
our  Saviour,  as  they  are  enjoined  by  him.  Upon  the  whole, 
the  interpreting  literally  what  Moses  says  of  the  prohibited 
tree,  and  afterwards  of  the  tree  of  life,  does  not  make  the 
texts  that  speak  of  then  fSiaj  srtv%v(SBu<;','^  it  Sets  up  no  singu- 
lar or  peculiar  notion  in  religion,  which  has  nothing  like  it  in 
the  other  Scriptures :  but  rather  it  is  so  truly  xata.  dj/axoyiav 
trii  rti^ecoi,^  hath  such  an  agreement  with  what  is  read  of  a 
like  nsitUYe  fro77i  faith  to  faith,  in  all  the  subsequent  revela- 
tions, which  God  hath  been  pleased  to  make  unto  men;  that 
it  approves  itself  in  showing  that  the  way  of  God  to  lead  man 
through  the  world  hath  been  in  this  point  none  other  than  one 
and  the  same  in  principle,  though  diversified  in  circumstances, 
as  the  different  ages  might  require,  from  the  very  beginning 
down  to  these  last  times,  and  is  to  continue  the  same  until  our 
state  here  be  fulfilled. 

The  objectors  to  a  literal  interpretation  of  Moses's  account 
of  the  two  particular  trees  of  the  garden,  do  therefore  vainly 
think,  that  they  have  an  insuperable  difficulty  in  asking,  How 
could  there  be  in  nature  trees  which  could  bear  such  fruits,  as 
seem,  by  a  literal  interpretation  of  Moses,  to  be  ascribed  to 
the  tree  of  knowledge,  and  the  tree  of  life  ?  For  if  any  one 
should  ask  us  concerning  baptism.  What  sort  of  water  can 
that  be,  which  can  give  the  washing  of  regeneration  ?  or  con- 
cerning the  Lord's  Supper,  What  can  we  conceive  of  natural 
nourishment  or  juices  in  that  bread  and  wine,  from  the  eating 
and  drinking  of  which  we  may  be  made  partakers  of  the  body 
and  blood  of  Christ?  Would  any  one,  who  thinks  soberly 
upon  the  benefits  ascribed  to  the  doing  these  things,  as  God 
hath  commanded  them,  find  himself  at  a  loss  to  answer  in 
these  matters?  Or  would  he  apprehend  that  the  things  so 
commanded  are  a  mere  allegory;  and  that  we  are  not  enjoined 
literally  to  use  real  water,  or  to  eat  and  drink  real  bread  and 
real  wine?  Rather,  how  much  more  reasonably  may  we  see 
and  apprehend,  that  as  we  eat  the  bread  and  drink  the  wine, 
which  God  hath  commanded,  in  assurance  of  the  faith,  that, 
if  we  obey  God,  it  will  be  unto  us  according  to  his  word,  to 
give  us  eternal  life,  to  raise  us  up  at  the  last  day  f  even  so 
might  Adam,  having  done  the  will  of  God,  when  God  should 


3  Ilom.iv,  11.  4  0  Pet.  i,  20. 

*  Rom,  xii,  6.  s  John  vi,  54> 


120  THE  CREATION  AND  CHAP.  Vll. 

direct  it,  have  literally  put  forth  his  hand,  and  taken  of  the 
tree  of  life,  and  eaten  and  have  lived  for  ever?  And  as  we 
are  to  be  washed  with  water  as  Christ  hath  required,  and 
God  will  give  us  of  his  Holy  Spirit,  both  to  think  and  to  do, 
above  what  we  otherwise  would  be  able  of  our  own  sufficiency, 
presumptuously  assuming  to  stand  in  our  own  strcngtii  with- 
out him  ;  so  if  Adam,  literally  speaking,  had  not  eaten  of  the 
forbidden  tree,  he  would  have  continued  in  the  hand  of  God's 
counsel,  and  not  have  corrupted  himself  and  his  way  before 
God.  Not  that  meat,  or  abstaining  from  any  kind  of  meat, 
rccommendeth  unto  God;  not  that  the  washing  or  not  wash- 
ing with  water  is  in  itself  any  thing;  rather,  we  may,  and 
Adam  and  Eve  might  have  eaten,  or  not  eaten,  and  therein 
have  been  neither  the  better  nor  the  worse,  had  there  not 
been  the  commandment  of  God.  The  tree  prohibited  was,  I 
apprehend,  like  otiier  trees  of  the  garden,  pleasant  to  the 
eyes,  and  good  for  food ;  but  the  point  to  be  considered  was, 
Avhether,  in  observing  the  prohibition  not  to  eat  of  this  one 
tree,  the  man  was  not  to  keep  himself  in  the  hand  of  God's 
counsel,  not  to  take  upon  himself  to  be  his  own  independent 
director;  but  to  have  obeyed  absolutely,  whereinsoever  God 
was  pleased  to  give  him  special  directions,  to  live  according 
(o  every  word  which  should  proceed  from  the  mouth  of 
God.^  If  man  had  persevered  herein,  as  God  gave  him  one 
law  for  a  relative  duty,^  he  would,  in  like  manner,  as  occa- 
sion required,  have  given  him  others  also,  which  otherwise, 
through  man's  inexperience  of  the  nature  of  things,  he  would 
have  erred  in  investigating  for  himself;  until  God's  word 
having  thus  been  a  lantern  to  his  feet  and  a  light  to  his 
jiaths,  man  might,  through  it,  have  attained  a  right  under- 
standing, and  having,  as  long  as,  and  whereinsoever  he  might 
want  them,  been  guided  by  God's  counsels,^  be  thereby  made 
gradually  wise,  meet,  and  fit  to  be  received  unto  God  in 
glory.  But  on  the  other  hand,  man  rejecting  this,  the  counsel 
of  God  towards  him,  and  taking  upon  himself  to  judge  abso- 
lutely for  himself;  hence  it  came  to  pass,  that  not  having  a 
light  of  actual  knowledge  of  his  own,  sufficient  to  preserve 
him  from  error,  he  would  find,  that  however  God  had  created 
him  (jushur)  able,  under  the  directions  designed  him,  to 
walk  aright  in  the  duties  of  his  life;  yet  now,  not  keeping 
himself  within  this  guidance,  but  following  his  own  thoughts, 
he  would  becoftie  a  creature  full  of  error,  and  be  in  the  end 
both  wicked  and  vain.  We  must  conceive  that  God  not  only 
sees  us,  but  sees  through  us;  knows  us,  and  knows  the  point 
upon  which  the  issue  of  our  lives  will  turn.  He  thus  knew 
the  Israelites,  when  he  commanded  them  to  expel  the  Ca- 

'  Gen.  iii,  22.  »  Dent,  vili,  3  ;  IMatt.  iv,4. 

"  I  have  before  observed,  tliat  God  gave  our  first  parents  the  law,  that  maa 
:ind  wife  should  not  be  twain,  but  one  flesh.     Mark  x,  8,  vide  quce  sup. 
5  I'sahulxxiii,  24. 


CHAP.  VII.  FALL  OF  MAX.  121 

naanites  out  of  their  land ;  that,  if  this  one  thing  was  not  care- 
fully observed  and  performed  by  them,  however  they  might 
resolve  to  keep  his  law,  yet  they  certainly  would  be  drawn 
away  into  idolatry  by  the  remains  of  that  people.  The  Is- 
raelites would  not  apprehend  this,  but  made  the  experiment; 
and  the  event  proved  to  the  full  what  had  been  foretold.^ 
In  like  manner,  how  easy  is  it  to  see,  that  God  might  know, 
that  the  active  and  busy  faculty  he  had  given  our  first  parents, 
which  we  call  reason,  not  given  in  a  greater  measure  than  he 
had  endowed  them  with,^  would  never  have  been  kept  within 
its  proper  bounds,  unless  at  first  exercised  under  some  such 
especial  command  as  he  thought  fit  to  give  them ;  and  there- 
fore gave  such  command,  to  be  the  standing  inviolate  memento 
of  their  lives,  that,  luhethcr  they  ate,  or  ivhether  they  drank, 
or  whatsoever  they  did,^  they  should  in  nothing  turn  aside 
from  what  God  commanded,  either  to  the  right  hand,  or  to 
the  left.' 

2  See  Exodus  xxiii,  33  ;  Judges  ii,  &c. 

3  Motum  istum  celerem  cogitationis,  acumen,  solertiam,  quam  rationetn 
vocamus.    Cic.  de  Nat.  Deor.  lib,  iii,  c.  27. 

•»  1  Cor.  X,  31.  5  Deut.  v,  32, 


CHAPTER  VIU, 


Concerning  the  situation  of  the  Garden  of  Eden. 

THE  writers,  who  contend  that  Moses  only  designed  an 
instructive  apologue  and  not  a  real  history,  would  represent, 
that  his  very  description  of  the  situation  of  the  garden  of  Eden 
hints  this  to  us.  They  set  before  us  the  variety  of  opinions, 
which  different  writers  have  had  concerning  the  situation  of 
this  garden;^  and  would  thence  argue,  that  most  probably  no 
such  spot  of  ground  ever  really  existed.  Plato,  they  tell  us, 
feigned  Acos  jojTtor,  a  Jupiter's  garden,  wherein  he  relates  how 
Porus  and  Penia  became  the  parents  of  Eros.-  Plato  formed 
a  mythologic  tale,  of  the  origin  of  the  principle,  which  he 
termed  Eros,  or  Love ;  and  supposes,  that  a  garden,  which  he 
calls  Jupiter's,  had  been  the  sc'ene  of  the  fable  narrated  by 
him.  Of  this  sort  they  would  have  Moses's  garden  of  Eden, 
a  fictitious  scene,  the  supposed  place  where  Moses's  mytholo- 
gical account  of  the  origin  of  sin  was  transacted ;  no  more  a 
real  spot  of  ground,  than  Jupiter's  garden,  in  which  Plato  re- 
presented love  to  have  had  its  origin.  They  say,  divers  of  the 
early  fathers  of  the  Christian  church  understood  Moses  in 
this  manner;  and  they  cite  a  very  learned  one,  Eusebius  in 
particular,  for  this  opinion.  To  this  we  may  well  answer, 
that  what  sentiments  some  of  the  fathers  sometimes  had  of  di- 
vers parts  of  Moses's  writings  is  not  very  material.  Our  in- 
quiry is,  what  we  may  reasonably  admit  from  the  Scriptures 
to  inform  us  concerning  the  matter  before  us.  However,  I 
would  observe,  that  Eusebius  certainly  did  not  mean  what  is 
inferred  from  him.     We  find,  in  our  editions  of  him,  these 

words,     McoOfCg?     xafa     I'traj    ttrtoppjjtgj    ?ioyoD$ — ftra    rtapaSacoor 


»  Dr.  Middleton  justly  remarks,  that  it  would  be  tedious  to  collect  the 
strange  variety  of  conceits,  which  have  been  invented  about  the  single  article 
of  a  paradise ;  the  reader  may  find  enough  of  them  in  Burnet's  Theory,  both 
the  Latin  and  English. 

■*  Plato  in  Sympos, 


124  THE  CREATION  AND  CHAP.  VIU. 

fyiyovivui.  ^avtoi.^  From  licnce  it  is  said,  that  Eusebius  repre- 
sents Moses  as  having  written  of  his  paradise  viythologi- 
cully  ;  whereas  I  apprehend  that  whoever  will  duly  examine 
Eusebius  will  see,  that  he  here  hinted  Plato's  sentiment  of 
Moses,  but  not  his  own.  Eusebius  represents  Plato  as  an 
allegorical  writer,  and  the  passage  cited  from  him  has  some 
defect,'*  or  is  obscurely  worded ;  but  it  seems  to  me,  that  he 
aimed  to  set  himself  at^txpvj  Mwfjsuj;  in  a  point  of  view  over 
against  Moses;  to  appear  such  a  writer  as  he  (Plato)  took 
Moses  to  have  been  before  him.  Accordingly,  though  Plato 
changed  the  facts  related  by  Moses,*  and  did  not  narrate  the 
very  same  which  he  read  in  Moses's  writings,  but  adopted 
others;  yet  he  thought  he  would  writ§  as  elegantly  of  Porus 
and  Penia,  as  he  deemed  Moses  had  written  of  Adam  and 
Eve;  reputing  Moses,  as  well  as  liimself,  ^a.vtoi  xara  tua? 
drtopp9jf8j  jtoyaj,  writing  not  as  a  historian,  but  in  the  mythic 
style  of  allegory.  The  sentiment  of  the  whole  period  cited 
from  Eusebius  is  different,  if  we  understand  Mwsf  105  ^avro^  to 
mean,  that  Moses  really  wrote  in  allegory,  and  that  Eusebius 
so  thought  of  him,  from  what  it  would  appear,  taking  those 
words  as  referring  to  Plato,  and  intending  only  that  Plato  so 
thought  of  Moses.  The  Greek  sentence  may,  I  think,  admit 
the  latter  sense  ;*"  an  English  reader  ma)^  be  apt  to  catch  the 
former:  and  Dr.  Burnet  hereupon  endeavours,  in  a  manner 
unworthy  a  scholar,  to  palm  the  former  upon  us.  We  may 
fully  see  the  opinion  of  Eusebius  concerning  Plato's  imitating 
Moses  in  the  chapter  following  what  is  cited.  Eusebius  tells 
us,  how  Plato  formed  his  fable  of  the  Androgynes,  from  what 
Moses  had  related  of  God's  making  the  woman  out  of  the 
man.^  Plato  changed  the  fact  related  by  Moses,  and  used  a 
fiction,  as  he  thought,  similar  to  it,  and  reputed  it  as  warran- 
table; supposing  that  Moses  herein,  as  well  as  himself,  had 
written  allegory.  But  Eusebius  hereupon  tells  us  expressly, 
that  Plato  did  not  understand  Moses's  intention,'  and  was 
ignorant  of  his  way  of  speaking.^     Here  then  we  come  to 

3  Vide  Euseb.  Prxp.  Evang.  lib.  xli,  c.  11.  Hunc  hortum  Del  apud  .Mosem 
eundum  esse  volunt  nonmiUi  ac  A/cc  x.n?rov,  Jovis  hortum  aj>iid  Platonem,  et 
eandem  esse  utrobiqiie  historiam  vel  allegoriam  Jta-ra  rivuc  a^n-ipfurovc  ^.c^ct/? 
Ma'«a)c,  secundum  arcanos  sensus  Mosis  Inquit  Eusebius.  Burnet's  Archaeol, 
p.  87. 

*  I  should  suspect  that  Eusebius  wrote,  M«5-»>c  oi  xstT*  Ttvtts  dvoppurcv; 
y.'^ywi  —  ^*vTor.  Mosis,  quasi  secundum  quosdam  arcanos  sensus  loquentis. 
The  meaning  of  the  place  would  thus  be  clear ;  but  perhaps  the  unskilful 
transcriber  dropped  the  second  «?,  not  seeing  the  meaning  of  it. 

6  'I'lie  words  ot  Eu  ebius  in  our  present  copies  of  him,  are,  Mce<na>i  kxtu. 

■^iyoma.1  pavTsc,  K-tv  [x'  fv]  Tcurai'Tcv  dv^pu^prcv  ytt-xthj-^ou  Six  thc  yvvMncc  Trp'^c 
T'.u  o(piUK.  dvTiKpv;  /xovcvou)(^i  TO.  pufjiitraL  jumToiiiffi^  0  YlKXTity,  tTraicivtrov  cU  tv 
^vf/.Troinm  kai  uuto;  axx^jsgav  n^uiuv.     Euseb.  Fraep.  Evang.  lib,  xii,  C,  11. 

7  Eu>eb.  Vvxp.  Evang.  lib.  xii,  c.  2  2. 

8  M«  <rvm;  o  U^nTcev  cttom  tipurM  Smvoict.    Euseb.  ibid. 
8  i^f.oi  fjiiv  fTtv  UK,  dyyonfxi  tsv  hoyA',    Id.  ibid. 


CHAP.  VIII.  FALL  OF  MAN.  125 

Eusebius's  sentiment  concerning  both  Plato  and  Moses:  he 
plainly  shows,  that  he  knew  Moses  had  written  fact,  and  his- 
tory, but  thought  Plato  mistook  him,  and  supposed  him  an  al- 
legorist;  and  that,  in  writing  in  that  style,  he  ^^^s  an  imitator 
of  him.  Accordingly,  we  ought  so  to  construe  what  was  be- 
fore cited  from  Euscbius,  as  to  make  it  agree  with  what  he 
has  thus  plainly  declared.  ^ 

But  to  return  from  whence  I  have  digressed :  the  writers, 
who  do  not  admit,  in  a  literal  sense,  what  Moses  relates  of  the 
garden  of  Eden,  remark,  that  the  ignorance  of  all  ages,  con- 
cerning its  true  place  and  situation,  must  be  deemed  a  consi- 
derable argument,  that  no  such  real  place  ever  existed.^  It 
is  not  likely,  they  say,  but  that  some  of  Adam's  early  pos- 
terity must  have  found  in  the  world  some  traces  of  the  man- 
sion of  their  first  parents,  if  so  remarkable  a  place  of  their 
abode  had  ever  been ;  but,  if  it  be  in  fact  true,  that,  choose 
where  we  will,  we  can  hear  of  no  spot  of  ground  so  situate 
and  bounded  as  Moses  describes,  why  should  we  think  his 
garden  any  other  than  a  mere  scene  of  fancy,  which  no  real 
geography  could  ever  mark  out  upon  the  face  of  the  whole 
earth  ?2  But  these  writers  are  in  all  this  guilty  of  the  most 
shameful  carelessness.  They  first  call  for  an  inquiry,  whe- 
ther any  of  Adam's  posterity  could  ever  trace  out  any  marks 
of  the  situation  of  the  place  where  Adam  first  lived  ?  and  then, 
overlooking,  that,  ages  after  Adam,  Moses  gave  his  contem- 
poraries a  very  particular  designation  of  it,  they  run  away  to 
a  modern  disquisition,  whether  we  can  now  find  charts  of  the 
world,  that  may  perfectly  agree  with  the  descriptions  of  Mo- 
ses? But  the  best  method  we  can  take  to  clear  the  whole  of 
this  inquiry  will  be  to  examine,  1.  Whether  we  can  reasonably 
admit,  that  any  situation  of  places  in  the  world  before  the 
Flood  could  possibly  be  found  the  same  in  i\\e.  postdiluvian 
Earth.  2.  To  examine  whether  Moses  does,  or  does  not, 
settle  the  boundaries  of  his  garden,  such  as  they  were  known 
to  be  after  the  flood.  3.  Whether  it  appears,  that  the  site 
of  the  garden,  as  Moses  describes  it  was  known  in  the  world 
before,  in,  and  after,  the  time  of  Moses.  4.  To  determine 
what  his  description  of  it  precisely  is.  5.  Whether  there  has 
not  happened,  since  his  time,  such  alterations  in  the  countries 
bordering  upon  its  situation,  as  may  give  us  reason  to  think, 
that  we  cannot  now  ascertain  the  local  spot  described  by  him; 
yet,  notwithstanding  all  the  changes  in  the  face  of  the  Earth, 
that  we  may  still  find  the  country  in  which  Moses's  garden 
of  Eden  may  be  reasonably  concluded  to  have  had  its  situ- 
ation. 

1.  Our  first  inquiry  ought  to  be,  whether  any  spot  of  ground 

'  Soe  Middleton's  Essay  upon  tlie  ulleg-orlcal  and  literal  interpretation. 

2  Middleton's  Examination  of  the   Lord  Eishop  of  London's  Discourse?, 

p.  13.1. 

Vol.  IV.  R 


126  THE  CREATION  AND  CHAP.  VIII. 

in  the  first  world  could  possibly  be  found  again  after  the  flood? 
Here  we  have  to  combat  with  two  opinions :  one,  that  the 
first  world  was  made  so  very  different  from  Xha  postdiluvian 
Earth,  that  it^annot  be  thought  there  was  such  a  situation  in 
it  as  Moses  describes.  The  other,  that  if  there  had  been 
originally  such  a  primitive  situation,  the  earth  must  have  suf- 
fered such  alteration  by  the  flood,  that,  after  that  catastrophe, 
no  traces  of  Vhat  had  been  before  could  ever  be  found.  F'or 
the  former  of  these  we  may  read  Dr.  Burnet's  Theory ;  that 
there  were  no  hills ;  no  such  rivers  in  the  first  world  as  now 
water  the  earth.-^  But  we  shall  find  this  a  mere  fancy  of  his 
philosophy,  into  which  he  would  not  have  fallen  had  he  kept 
to  what  he  proposed  should  conduct  his  inquiries,  namely, 
the  light  he  might  have  had  from  the  holy  Scriptures.^  The 
sacred  writers  have  ever  accounted  mountains  and  hills  as 
coeval  with  the  world.  The  writer  of  the  Book  of  Job  was 
of  this  opinion  ;  who  speaks  of  the  first  man  as  made  before 
the  hills ;^  not  meaning  before  them,  in  point  of  time;  for 
the  expression  is,  made  ^;^  the  sight  of  the  hills  ;^  that  is, 
when  as  yet  not  men,  but  the  hills  only  were  spectators  of 
his  coming  into  being.  The  expression  intimates  what  the 
Psalmist  also  suggests,  that  the  mountains  were  brought  forth 
as  soon  as  the  earth  was  made;  for  to  these  he  appeals  as  to  the 
most  ancient  things,  to  argue  from  them,  that  He,  who  was  be- 
fore them,  is  God:  Before  the  mountains  were  brought  forthy 
or  ever  thou  hadst  formed  the  earth,  even  from  everlasting 
to  everlasting  thou  art  GodJ  Agreeably  hereto,  Moses 
speaks  of  hills,  which  had  not  their  rise  from  the  deluge,  but 
were  more  ancient;  were  the  heights  of  the  earth,  over  and 
above  the  loftiest  of  which  the  wafers  of  the  flood,  he  tells  us, 
prevailed  fifteen  cubits  upwards  ;  to  cover  all  the  high  hills 
then  under  Heaven.**  'But  it  was  in  Dr.  Burnet's  imagina- 
tion, that  a  fluid  mass,  rolled  round  upon  its  axis,  might 
gradually  throw  outward  its  earthy  particles,  and  become  in- 
crusted  over  a  huge  body  of  waters,  and  growing  more  and 
more  firm  and  compact,  have  its  surface  naturally  formed  in 
an  even  oval.^  But  how  small  a  mote  became  here  a  beam 
in  our  author's  eye;  from  his  not  considering  the  greatness 
of  this  work  of  God  !  He  does  not  treat  (though  he  is  not  wil- 
ling to  allow  his  conceptions  to  be  so  narrow')  his  mundane 
egg  suitably  to  the  real  amplitude  of  the  world. -^  Geometry 
shows,  that  the  height  of  the  highest  mountains  of  the  earth 
bears  no  greater  proportion  to  a  semidiameter  of  our  globe. 


'  Theory,  book  i,  c,  5. 

*  Adducamus  in  coiiciUmTi  luiluiam  et  rationem,  prxeunte  semper,  qua 
licet,  sacrariim  litcrarum  lumine.     Tell.  Theor.  S.ic.  lib.  i,  c.  5. 

5  Job  XV,  6.  6  mj,'3J  'JbS.     Ibid.  '  Psalm  xc,  2. 

«  Gen.  vit,  19.  »  Tlieory,  vol.  i,  c.  4.  i  Id.  c.  11. 

2  Id.  c.  5.  'Tis  the  doctrine  of  tiie  mundane  egfc.  I  do  not  know  any  sym 
bolicul  (.Icctrine  so  universally  entertained  by  the  Mysta;.    Id.  book  ii,  c.  8. 


CHAP.  VIII.  FALL  OF  MAN.  127 

than  as  about  1  to  860.^  Therefore,  though  to  us  many  of  the 
mountains  are  vast  objects,  as  they  take  up  great  room  in,  or, 
if  we  approach  them,  more  than  fill  the  little  orb  of  our  sight; 
yet  they  are  in  truth  no  greater  prominence  on  the  face  of  the 
Earth,  than  an  excresence  of  about  the  one  hundred  and  forty- 
third  part  of  an  inch  high  would  be  upon  a  ball  a  yard  round. 
Our  sight  is  not  minufe  enough  to  reach  so  insensible  an  ir- 
regularity; and  were  it  even  large  enough  to  take  a  compre- 
hensive view  of  a  whole  hemisphere  of  the  Earth,  it  could 
not  spy  so  little  an  object  as  the  hugest  mountain.''  Had  our 
author  thus  considered  the  bigness  of  the  Earth,  cavities  for 
the  seas  impressed  upon  the  formed  orb  of  it,  to  receive  the 
gathering  together  of  the  waters,  which  were  to  run  from 
among  the  hills,  and  the  mountains  and  hills  raised  upon  the 
face  of  the  antediluvian  globe,  might  have  been  deemed  by 
him  to  be  no  more  than  what  the  o  ^soj  ysofis-tpuv,  the  divine 
workmaster,  who  gave  every  thing  its  due  weight  and  mea- 
sure, knew  was  proper  to  balance  the  parts  of  the  Earth  one 
against  another,  to  give  a  due  libration  to  our  globe. 

But  the  other  opinion  is,  that,  if  the  Earth  was  indeed  ori- 
ginally made  such,  as  to  have  hills  and  rivers  like  what  are 
mentioned  by  Moses;  yet  that  such  alterations  of  our  globe 
must  have  happened  from '  the  universal  deluge,  that  any  of 
the  same  mountains  and  rivers  which  were  before  the  flood, 
cannot  be  supposed  to  have  remained,  or  be  found  after  it. 
This  sentiment  is  thought  supportable  either  by  considering, 
1.  What  a  fracture  must  have  happened  in  the  Earth,  to  bring 
forth  the  ab3-ss  of  waters  produced  by  God's  breaking  up  the 
fountains  of  the  deep  ;*  or,  2.  The  strata  of  the  relics  of  a 
flood,  which  are  said  to  lie  everywhere  deep  in  all  parts  of  the 
present  Earth. 

1.  Moses  tells  us,  that  at  the  deluge  all  the  fountains  of 
the  great  deep  were  broken  iipJ^  Our  ingenious  theorist, 
having  observed  what  a  quantity  of  water  must  otherwise 
have  been  created,  to  fill  a  sphere  extended  fifteen  cubits 
every  way  higher  than  the  summit  of  the  highest  hills,^  re- 
presents the  old  world  as  having  been  arched  over  a  vast 
abyss  of  waters  inclosed  around  its  centre,  laid  up  here  as  in 
a  store  house,**  contained  as  in  a  bag^  against  the  time  when 
God  called  them  forth  to  destroy  the  world  that  then  was. 
God  then,  he  says,  broke  up  the  fountains  of  this  deep ;  caused 
the  compass  of  the  world  set  over  it,^  i.  e.  the  Earth^  esta- 
blished upon  these  floods,  to  be  broken  down,   and  in  huge 

3  Varen,  Geogr.  sec.  iii,  c.  ix,  prop.  vii. 

■♦  Varenius's  proposition  is,  Montium  altitudo  ad  semldiametrum  tellurJs 
lion  liabet  sensibilern  proportionem,  sive  adeo  exiguam,  ut  rotunditati  telluris 
jion  magis  officiat,  quam  punctum  in  globi  artificialis  superficie  notatum. 

°  Gen.  vii,  11.  6  ibid. 

■^  Theorj^  of  the  Earth,  vol.  i,  c.  2.  «  Ibid.  c.  7;  Psalm  xxxiii,  7. 

'  Ibid.  '  Psalm.  cxxx.vij  6.         "  Psalm  xxiv,  2. 


128  THE  CREATION  AND  CHAP.  Vlll. 

fragments  to  fall  into  this  vast  cavern,  whereby  the  waters, 
forcecl  out  of  it,  were  added  to  the  rahi  of  forty  days,  to 
drown  the  world.  He  adds,  in  lively  descriptions,  that  the 
face  of  the  present  Earth,  overspread  with  broken  mountains, 
craggy  precipices,  ragged  and  mis-shapen  rocks,  looks  appa- 
rently to  be  such  a  world  of  ruins;  and  shows  us,  that  we  live 
upon  the  remains  of  a  thus  fractured  "globe.  He  concludes, 
that  if  we  admit  his  h3'pothesis,  or  such  a  disruption  of  the 
Earth,  we  cannot  expect  to  find  rivers  now,  as  they  were  be- 
fore; the  general  source  is,  he  says,  changed,  and  their  chan- 
nels are  all  broken  up.^  It  is  surprising  that  this  ingenious 
author  did  not  reflect,  that  even  his  own  hypothesis  does  not 
make  it  certain  that  the  ruins  he  supposes  occupied  the  face 
of  the  whole  Earth.  Might  not  divers  enormous  fragments 
fall  into  the  abyss  represented  by  him,  in  many  different  parts 
of  the  world,  and  for  vast  and  extensive  tracts  of  country  to- 
gether: and  yet  in  other  parts  vast  plains,  and  a  well  watered 
champaign,  such  as  are  found,  and  have  l)een  found  in  all  ages 
in  many  countries,  have  remained  not  disfigured,  as  not  hav- 
ing suffered,  in  these  ruins?  The  disruption  of  the  world  was 
local,  here  and  there  in  places,  as  the  rocky  precipices  are 
found  to  be,  which  are  scattered  over,  but  do  not  everywhere 
cover,  the  whole  face  of  the  Earth.  And  if  Moses's  Eden  was 
in  a  tract  of  countr}',  which  did  not  break  and  fall  in  such  dis- 
jointed fragments  into  the  deep,  its  primitive  situation  might 
remain,  and  be  well  described  by  him  in  the  postdiluvia)i 
world.     In  like  manner, 

2.  If  we  examine  what  is  offered  by  others  concerning  the 
several  strata  in  the  bowels  of  the  Earth,  occasioned,  as  they 
represent,  by  a  universal  deluge:  we  shall  find  nothing  in 
their  speculations,  to  prove  that  Moses  might  not  be  able  to 
describe  the  local  situation  of  the  garden  of  Eden,  by  such 
boundaries  as  might  really  exist  in  \hc  postdiluvian  Earth. 

Some  writers  speak  of  shells  and  exuvix  of  fishes,  of  teeth 
and  bones  of  some  animals,  often  found  buried  under  the  sur- 
face; many  times  deep  in  the  bowels  of  the  i)resent  Earth;  and 
sometimes  inclosed  even  within  the  mass  of  the  most  solid 
stones,  or  beds  of  minerals.  They  supj)ose  that  the  Earth, 
at  the  universal  deluge,  was  so  long  soaked  in  the  water  whicli 
overflowed  it,  that  the  crustation  or  concretion  of  all  its  parts 
was  absolutely  loosened,  and  the  whole  orb  liquidated  into  a 
universal  fluor.  In  this,  trees,  animals,  fishes,  and  all  sorts  of 
vcgetablos,  not  of  a  contexture,  such  as  that  water  was  a  pro- 
per mcnstrmnn  to  dissolve,  were  variously  tossed  about  and 
carried,  until,  when  God  was  pleased  to  quiet  the  floods,  and 
the  agitations  of  the  w^aters  l^ecame  a  dead  calm,  things  began 
regularly  to  sul)si(le.  They  suppose  the  earth  to  concrete 
again,  and  the  bodies  rolling  here  and  there  in  the  turbid  and 

'  Theory  of  the  E.arlli,  vol.  i,  book  ii,  c.  7. 


CHAP.  YIII.  FALL  OF  MAN.  129 

thick  waters,  to  sink  and  lodge  deeper  or  nearer  the  surface 
of  the  accrescing  earth,  in  proportion  to  their  specific  gravi- 
ties. Then  that  the  bed  of  earth,  in  which  they  became  thus 
situated,  hardening  daily,  suitably  to  the  nature  of  its  respec- 
tive soil,  some  strata  became  in  time  a  chalk;  others  vege- 
tated or  were  concocted  to  stone ;  to  ore  of  minerals  in  con- 
cretions of  various  sorts,  such  as  might  be  formed  according 
to  the  different  nature  of  the  parts  of  which  they  were  com- 
pounded :  that  the  undissolved  bodies,  which  subsided,  and 
rested  where  the  surrounding  matter  answered  their  gravity 
and  sustained  them,  became,  as  that  hardened,  inclosed  in  it; 
and  are  therefore,  wherever  the  earth  is  ransacked  down  to 
the  beds  where  they  lie,  found  sometimes  whole  and  entire, 
where  no  air  has  been  introduced  to  loosen  the  contexture  of 
their  parts,  or  any  menstruum  has  been  generated,  to  cor- 
rode and  dissolve  them.  And  many  times,  where  the  shells 
or  atfimals  are  dissolved  and  gone,  such  a  print  appears  in  the 
yielding  and  soft  substance  of  the  strata  where  they  lay,  as 
to  exhibit  even  in  wliat  now  are  the  hardest  stones,  impres- 
sions of  various  kinds,  more  perfect  than  the  best  matrices 
which  the  highest  art  of  foundery  could  ever  have  made  to 
cast  their  forms  in.  I  this  manner  they  suppose  that  the 
liquidated  earth,  being  full  of  all  that  perished  in  it,  has 
gradually  become  again  a  round  lump,  precipitated  to  the 
centre  of  the  waters  in  which  it  was  immerged.  And 
they  say,  that  after  this  subsidence,  God  raised  the  earth 
again  above  the  waters  by  breaking  the  round  orb,  and 
elevating  some  parts  into  hills,  making  deep  channels  for 
rivers  and  seas,  and  thereby  draining  great  tracts  to  be  dry 
land  for  a  new  habitable  world.  They  assign  this  to  be  the 
reason,  why  in  some  mountains,  and  sides  of  hills,  the  relics 
are  found  lying  in  lines  perpendicular,  and  not,  as  in  other 
parts  of  the  earth,  in  horizontal  strata.^  These  mountains, 
they  say,  were  raised  up  from  their  flat  and  recumbent  situa- 
tion, set  as  it  were  on  edge,  so  as  to  have  what  originally  was 
their  horizontal  surface  now  placed  sloping  or  perpendicular 
to  the  horizon,  and  accordingly  to  have  their  whole  contents 
in  a  like  situation.  In  this  manner  we  are  apt  to  think  our- 
selves able,  speculatively,  to  destroy  and  make  a  world.  But 
whether  in  fact  these  things  were  thus  done,  must  be  more 
than  doubted  by  any  one  who  attends  to  the  history  of  Moses. 
If  the  earth,  within  six  generations  of  Adain,  was  found  to 
abound  in  such  ore  of  metals,  as  could  employ  every  artificer 
in  brass  and  iron,  of  which  we  read  Tubal-Cain  was  an  early 
instructor;^  we  cannot  conceive  that  the  whole  globe  had  been, 
at  the  Flood,  of  so  loose  and  dissoluble  a  contexture,  that 
forty  days'  rain,  and  the  waters  which  came  from  the  great 
deep,  should  altogether  melt  it  away.  And  if,  as  an  ingenious 

*  See  Woodward's  Theory.  ;  Gen.  iv,  22. 


130  THE  CREATION  AND  (JHAP.  VIll. 

friend  observed  to  me,  in  a  conversation  upon  this  subject, 
the  dove  which  Noah  sent  out  the  second  time  from  the  ark, 
came  to  him  in  the  evening,  and,  lo  !  in  her  mouth  was  an 
olive  leaf  pluckt  off,  so  Noah  knew  that  the  waters  were 
abated;  some  trees,  at  least,  which  were  before  the  Flood, 
stood  their  ground,  and  therefore  their  ground  was  not  abso- 
lutely washed  away  from  them.  Their  summits  or  tops  of 
boughs  appeared  as  the  flood  decreased,  for  the  dove  to  alight 
on,  and  to  bear  away  the  spoils  of  them. 

The  world,  such  as  it  subsided  during  the  increase  of  the 
Flood,  such  it  appeared  again  in  the  parts  where  the  ark  rested, 
rising  by  degrees  out  of  the  waters;  the  summits  of  trees 
upon  the  hills,  from  one  of  which  Noah's  dove  plucked  an 
olive  leaf,  emerged  first ;  the  tops  of  hills  next  became  visible; 
the  earth,  and  what  was  upon  it,  came  gradually  into  sight, 
until  the  face  of  the  ground  was  dry.  The  heathen  poet 
seems  to  describe  this  great  event  more  suitably  to  what  the 
providence  of  God  caused  to  be  the  fact,  than  our  modern 
philosophers  have  done.  Ovid  tells  us,  that  upon  the  abating 
of  the  Flood, 

P'Uimina  siibsidunt,  coUes  exire  videntur, 
Surgit  humus :  crescunt  loca  decrescentibus  undis  : 
Potsque  diem — nudata  cacumina  silvae 
Ostendunt,  limumque  teiient  in  fronde  relictum, 
Kedditus  orbis  eiat, 

Otid.  Met.  lib.  i. 

The  world  v^-as  restored  to  the  remnant  of  mankind ;  not  a 
new  world,  created  over  again,  upon  a  total  dissolution  of  the 
former;  but  a  globe,  which,  though  the  waters  left  every- 
where sufficient  marks  of  an  inundation,  was  in  nowise  so  en- 
tirely stripped  of  its  trees,  its  herbs,  and  all  its  other  garni- 
ture, that  the  sons  of  Noah  could  not  know  it  to  be  the  same, 
or  could  think  it  absolutely  another  Earth. 

We  may  well  account  for  all  the  phaenomena  of  which  our 
naturalists  are  so  full,  without  running  the  length  of  their 
imagination  for  a  solution.  If  we  consider  the  accounts  and 
effects  of  many  lesser  inundations,  which  have  happened  in 
divers  parts  of  the  world,  we  may  exjilain  such  efiects  as  are 
mentioned  by  the  poet: 

Vidi  ego,  qux  quondam  fuerat  solidissima  tcllus 
Esse  fretum,  vidi  factas  ex  aequore  terras  : 
Et  pi'ocul  a  pelago  conciire  jacuere  marinic, 
Et  vetus  inveiita  est  in  niontibus  anchora  summis  : 
Quodque  fuit  campus  vallem  dL-cursus  aquaj-um 
Tecit,  et  eluvic  mons  est  deductus  in  xquor. 

Ovir.  IMet.  lib.  xv. 

Great  tracts  which  were  formerl)-  dry  land,  may  be  now  in 
the  sea;  and  much,  of  what  the  waters  formerly  covered,  is  in 
many  parts  of  the  world  become  dry  and  habitable  ground. 
The  shells  of  sea-fish  are  often  seen  in  parts  very  remote  from 


IIAP.  VIII.  FALL  OF  MAN.  131 

any  seas,  and  ancient  anchors  have  been  found  upon  the  tops 
of  mountains:  a  flow  of  waters  has  gullied  plains  into  deep  val- 
leys; and  hills  have  been  washed  down,  and  borne  away  into 
the  ocean. 

Our  own  country  might  afford  many  demonstrative  facts  of 
this  nature.  In  the  levels  of  Cambridgeshire  there  are  many 
reasons  to  think,  that  there  was  formerly  a  surface,  which  now 
lies  buried  some  yards  deep  under  the  present  soil.  The  bot- 
tom of  some  rivers  show  it;^  and  in  setting  down  a  sluice 
there  has  been  found,  sixteen  feet  deep,  a  smith's  forge  and 
the  tools  thereunto  belonging,  with  several  horseshoes.  At 
Whittlesey,  in  that  county,  in  digging  through  the  moor,  at 
eight  feet  deep,  they  came,  we  are  told,  to  a  perfect  soil  of 
what  is  called  siuord  groxind.  Timber  trees  of  several  kinds, 
it  is  said,  lie  deeply  buried  in  other  places ;  and,  in  some  parts, 
skeletons  of  fishes,  whole  and  entire,  lie  many  feet  under 
ground  in  a  slit.  From  all  these  appearances  our  naturalist's 
inform  us,  with  great  show  of  probability,  that  some  ancient 
land  floods  have  brought  down  from  the  higher  countries  a 
prodigious  wash  of  soil  with  their  waters;  that  these  waters, 
not  finding  a  sufficient  outlet  to  run  off  with  a  strong  current, 
spread  over  the  whole  level  the  adventitious  earth  brought 
with  them,  which  in  time  hardened  and  incrusted  to  a  new 
sui'face  over  the  old  ground,  covering  whatever  was  over- 
flowed upon  the  former  lands,  and  containing  the  cxuvise  of 
whatever  fish  or  animals  wore  choked  and  buried  in  it.  From 
these  lesser  effects  of  lesser  causes,  we  may,  I  think,  well 
trace  the  greater  effects  of  greater.  If  an  inundation,  of  so 
small  a  country  as  an  inland  level,  heaped  a  soil  over  the 
face  of  it  yards  deep,  why  might  not  the  universal  deluge  of 
the  world,  in  places  where  the  drain  from  them  might  let 
away  the  water,  but  retain  the  sediment,  lodge  vast  and 
mountainous  tracts  of  adventitious  earth  ;  in  which  might  be 
buried  all  the  layers  of  the  exuvix,  which  are  the  noted  cu- 
riosities of  their  strata,  and  over  which  the  earths  they  were 
buried  in  were  at  first  but  wet  mud,  loose  mould,  gritty  sand, 
loam  or  marl;  little  particles  of  stony  substance;  some  of  all 
aptitudes  for  all  sorts  of  accretion,  concoction,  and  vegetation; 
and  which  have  accordingly,  in  the  maturation  of  ages,  re- 
mained sandy  and  sabulous  earth  in  all  kinds,  or  become 
rocks  or  minerals,  veins  of  metals,  or  quarries  of  all  sorts  of 
stone,  according  to  the  respective  natures  of  their  component 
particles  and  constitution  ?  The  hills,  as  the  waters  surmounted 
all,  might  in  many  places,  where  their  summits  were  plain 
and  extensive,  and  the  fall  from  them  but  little,  have  their 
tops  hugely  heaped,  and  their  sides  every  way  loaded  with 
these  incrustations.  In  countries,  also,  where  a  great  fall  was 
open  for  the  waters  from  high  hills,  and  a  spacious  outlet  for 

c  Sec  Hiigdale's  History  of  EtT-bauking', 


132  THE  CREATION  AND  CHAP.  Vlll. 

their  currents  into  the  sea,  mountains  of  this  adventitious  soil 
might  be  carried  off  through  the  channels  of  large  rivers, 
deepened  by  the  torrents  borne  through  them,  and  the  face  of 
the  adjacent  lands,  scoured  indeed  of  some  of  its  own  surface, 
might  have  its  boundaries  left  much  the  same  after  as  before 
such  deluge. 

The  depths  to  which  the  labour  of  man  has,  or  ever  can  ex- 
plore the  Earth, •are,  comparatively  speaking,  a  mere  span; 
for  how  little  do  the  deepest  mines  approach  towards  the  cen- 
tre of  our  globe?  It  may  probably  be  true,  after  all  our  natu- 
ralists have  offered  upon  these  subjects,  that  none  of  the  shells 
and  exuviae  they  talk  of,  such  as  really  are  or  have  been  what 
they  take  them  for,  have  ever  been  found  anywhere  in  the 
earth,  but  where  the  deluge  heaped  and  left  the  soil  where 
they  are  found.  In  other  parts  of  the  world,  where  the  Flood 
did  not  make  new  ground,  if  these  parts  were  dug  and  opened 
to  proper  depths,  undoubtedly  we  sliould  fnid  different  layers 
or  strata  of  earth,  quarries  of  stones,  or  veins  of  minerals,  such 
as  may  have  been  forming  from  the  origin  of  things,  but  no 
such  exuvise  in  these  as  are  found  in  like  beds  in  the  other 
places.  And  where  the  exuvix  are  found  lying  perpendicu- 
larly or  aslope,  and  not  in  horizontal  lines,  I  suspect  that 
earthquakes,  since  the  deluge,  may  have  variously  broken  up 
these  places  from  their  deepest  foundations;  subverted  the  old, 
and  made  a  new  position  of  huge  fragments  of  them. 

If  in  thus  examining,  all  that  has  been  suggested,  we  can, 
after  all,  find  such  a  situation  in  the  present  world,  as  Moses 
describes,  which  hath  all  appearance  of  being  the  tract  where 
he  marked  out  the  boundaries  of  his  land  of  Eden,  and  its  gar- 
den ;  I  conceive,  that,  if  those  parts  were  dug  up  and  explored, 
such  exuvix  of  the  flood  would  be  found  in  them  as  to  induce 
us  to  think,  that  such  a  spot  of  ground,  as  described  by  Moses, 
has  existed  both  upon  the  antediluvian  and  postdiluvian  Earth. 
But  let  us  consider, 

II.  Whether  the  description  of  Moses  does  not  plainly  tell 
us,  what  were  the  marks  or  bounds  of  his  garden  of  Eden  in 
the  first  world;  and  also  as  plainly,  that  these  boundaries  re- 
mained, but  had  new  names,  and  were  w^ell  known  in  the  se- 
cond. A  river,  he  tells  us,  went  out  of  Eden  to  water  the 
garden,  and  it  was  a  river  of  four  heads  :^  this  was  the  run  and 
streams  of  the  river  of  Eden,  when  the  garden  was  first 
planted,  and  the  man  put  into  it.  Tlie  words  of  Moses  must 
have  this,  and  can  have  no  other  intention.  But  Moses  does 
not  rest  his  description  here  ;  he  proceeds  to  tell  us  what  these 
rivers  were  called,  and  what  countries  they  washed  upon  in 
after-ages.     He  calls  the  first  of  the  rivers  Pison,  the  second 


CHAP.  VIII.  FALL  OF  MAN.  133 

Gihon,  the  tliird  Hiddekel,  and  the  fourth  Euphrates.'*  He 
tells  us  of  the  first  river,  that  it  compasseth  the  whole  land  of 
Havilah/  a  country  noted  for  its  gold  and  precious  stones;^  of 
the  second,  that  it  compasseth  the  whole  land  of  Ethiopia,  or 
Cush;^  of  the  third,  that  it  runs  east  into  Assyria;^  of  the 
fourth,  that  it  is  the  Euphrates.^  These  names  of  the  rivers 
here  mentioned  by  Moses,  three  of  them,  at  least,  are  not,  that 
I  know  of,  mentioned  anywhere  by  profane  geographers  ;  but 
the  most  ancient  of  these  are  mere  moderns,  comparatively 
speaking,  with  regard  to  the  ancient  Scripture  geography/ 
The  author  of  the  Book  of  Ecclesiasticus  mentions  both  Pi- 
son  and  Gihon;^  and  hints,  that  both  were  rivers,  which  at 
particular  seasons  of  the  year  abounded  in  their  flow  of  wa- 
ters,'' and  as  not  unworthy  of  being  named  with  the  Tigris 
and  Euphrates;^  therefore  we  may  think,  that  in  his  day  they 
were  noted,  and  in  nowise  inconsiderable  streams.  The  Pi- 
son,  Moses  tells  us,  encompassed  the  whole  land  of  Havilah,- 
a  country  well  known  by  this  name  from  after  Abraham's 
day,^  and  in  the  times  of  Saul,^  although  not  thus  called  in  the 
antediluvian  world,  for  it  must  have  been  thus  denominated 
from  its  having  been  planted  after  the  Food  by  Havilah,  one 
of  the  sons  of  Jocktan;^  or  perhaps  originally  by  Havilah,  a 
son  of  Cush.^  We  can  find  no  more  of  Gihon,  than  that  it 
compassed  the  whole  land  of  Ethiopia,  or  land  of  Cush.^  The 
country  called  the  land  of  Cush  was  what  the  sons  of  Cush 
first  planted,''  most  probably  Babylonia;^  undoubtedly  not 
called  the  land  of  Cush  until  after  the  Flood,  when  Cush,  the 
son  of  Ham,  and  grandson  of  Noah,  had  been  an  inhabitant  of 
it.  The  river  Hiddekel  was  known  to  Daniel;  it  was  a  great 
river  in  his  days,  and  one  of  the  visions  he  saw  was  made  to 
him  in  the  third  year  of  Cyrus,  king  of  Persia,  upon  its  banks.^ 
The  fourth  river  of  Moses's  Eden  was  the  Perath.,  or  Eu- 
phrates,^ a  river  so  known  as  to  want  only  to  be  named  to  be 
sufficiently  distinguished  from  all  others.  It  was  called,  by 
way  of  eminence,  The  Great  River,  in  Abraham's  days,'^and 


^  Gen.  ii,  11 — 14.  Moses  having  told  us,  that  the  garden  was  watered  by 
a  river  from  four  heads,  proceeds  here  to  make,  as  it  were,  a  new  terrier  of  it, 
by  giving  it  streams,  and  the  countries  they  washed  upon  those  names  by  whicli 
they  were  called  after  the  Flood,  &c. 

9  Gen.  ii,  11.  »  Ibid. 

2  The  word  we  translate  Ethiopia  is  CitsJi.  in  the  Hebrew.  Gen.  ii,  13.  See 
Connect.  Sac.  et  Prof.  Hist.  vol.  i,  book  iii,  p.  110. 

3  Gen.  ii,  14.  ^  Ibid. 

''  Vide  qux  post.  «  Ecclus.  xxiv,  25,  27. 

"'  Ibid.  s  Ibid.  9  Gen.  ii,  ubi  sup. 

«  Chap.  XXV,  18.  2  1  Sam.  xv,  7. 

3  Gen.  X,  29. 

*  Ver.  7;  .see  Connect,  vol.  i,  book  iii,  p.  112. 

«  Gen.  ii,  ubi  syp. 

6  Gen.  X,  7;  see  Connect,  vol.  i,  book  iii,  p.  112. 

'  Ibid.  s  Dan.  x,  4. 

9  Gen.  Ii,  14,  i  Chap,  xv,  18. 

Vol.  IV.  S 


134  THE  CREATION  AND  CHAP.  VIII. 

SO  in  like  manner  by  Moses  at  the  exit  out  of  Egypt.^  It  is 
well  known  throughout  the  Scriptures  by  the  same  name,^  and 
the  heathen  geographers  are  all  very  full  in  their  accounts  of 
it."  In  this  manner,  therefore,  Moses  describes  the  situation 
of  the  garden  of  Eden,  not  as  if  he  had  thought  the  Flood  had 
washed  it  away,  so  that  the  place  of  it  could  nowhere  be 
found;  but  he  remarks  what  names  the  rivers  of  it  had  from 
after  the  times  of  the  sons  of  Noah,  what  countries  they 
bounded;  and  he  so  remarkably  observes,  that  it  had  been 
situate  in  the  neighbourhood  of  the  most  known  river  in  the 
world,  the  river  Euphrates,  that  it  must  be  evident,  he  had  no 
thought  of  placing  it  in  some  obscure  corner,  whicli  surely  he 
would  have  done,  if  he  had  intended  a  mere  fiction.  And  I 
apprehend,  considering  him  as  describing  a  real  place,  that  he 
would  have  added  more,  if  he  had  thought  what  he  wrote  was 
not  clear  enougli  to  leave  no  doubts,  at  the  time  he  wrote,  con- 
cerning the  situation  which  he  described. 

III.  The  site  of  the  garden  of  Eden,  as  Moses  describes  it, 
seems  to  have  been  well  known  in  the  world,  both  before, 
and  in,  and  after  Moses's  time.  The  Scriptures  are  generally 
concise;  every  part  is  confined  to  the  matter  it  treats  of;  there- 
fore the  garden  of  Eden  being  situate  beyond  the  Euphrates, 
and  near  the  river,  upon  vvhose  banks  Daniel  was,  in  his  cap- 
tivity at  Babylon,  it  must  at  first  sight  be  obvious,  that  the 
land  and  garden  of  Eden  were  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Baby- 
lonia. But  the  history  of  the  Bible,  from  after  Abraham's 
days  to  about  the  time  of  the  captivity,  has  no  accounts  re- 
lating to  any  thing  beyond  the  Euphrates;  therefore  it  is  no 
v/onder,  if  we  meet  nothing  remarkable  relating  to  places  of 
this  country  in  all  this  interval.  But  Abraham  and  Lot  came 
into  Canaan,  from  Haran  f  and  before  they  dwelt  in  Haran, 
they  had  left  a  farther  part  of  the  country  of  the  Chaldees,  for 
they  came  from  Ur.*^  They  were  not  young  men^  when  they 
left  these  parts,  but  may  well  be  supposed  to  be  no  strangers 
to  a  country  in  which  they  and  their  fathers  had  for  many 
generations  lived.  Accordingly  we  find  them  readily  agree- 
ing in  a  material  point  concerning  the  subject  of  our  inquiry. 
They  sojourned  together  in  Canaan,  between  Bethel  and  Hai; 
their  flocks  and  herds  were  so  large,  tliat  they  could  not  con- 
veniently live  together,  but  Avere  now  to  separate;^  and  Lot, 
we  read,  chose  to  live  in  the  plain  of  Jordan,  because  it  was 
everywhere  well  watered,  even  as  the  p^ardcn  of  the.  Lord, 


2  Deut.  i,  7. 

•■'  The  reader  may  find  it  thus  named  in  all  par*-  oFthc  Old  Testament. 

^  Vide  Strab.  Geogr.  lib.  xi;  Plinii  Nat.  Hist.  i.li.  v,  c.  26;  lib.  vi,  c.  9,  &c. 

s  Gen.  xii,  5.  6  chap,  xi,  31. 

'  See  Connect,  vol.  i,  b.  v,  p.  16S.  Abraham  was  seventy  years  old,  when 
iiis  father  removed  from  Ur  to  Haran,  and  seventy-five  when  be  came  into 
Canaan. 

-  Gen.  xiii 


CHAP.  VIII.  FALL  OF  MAX.  135 

and  like  the  land  of  Egypt^  Abraham  and  Lot  had  been  to- 
gether in  Egypt,  so  that  this  country  was  well  known  to 
them;^  and  from  the  whole  course  of  their  travels,  it  must 
appear,  that  they  could  have  seen  no  parts  of  the  world  so 
well  watered  as  the  plains  of  Jordan,  except  the  lands  adjoin- 
ing the  waters  of  the  Nile,  and  the  waters  of  Babylon.  They 
speak  expressly  of  the  one;  and  respecting  the  garden  of  the 
Lord,  in  the  country  of  the  other,  they  agree,  without  any 
farther  mention  than  its  name,  as  being  a  place  familiarly 
known  to  them  both.^  The  comparison  between  the  plains 
of  Jordan  and  the  spot  of  ground  watered  by  these  rivers,  said 
by  Moses  to  be  the  rivers  of  Eden,  was  so  just,  that  the  wri- 
ter of  the  Book  of  Ecclesiasticus,  afterwards,  allowed  it  to  be 
a  true  one.  The  waters  of  Tigris,  and  Pison,  and  Geon,  and 
Euphrates,  are  by  him,  as  Abraham  and  Lot  had  long  before 
agreed,  very  properly  compared  with  the  waters  of  Jordan.^ 
But  it  may  be  doubted,  whether  by  the  garden  of  the  Lord, 
mentioned  by  Lot  to  Abraham,  was  meant  the  garden  of 
Eden,  as  described  by  Moses.  Let  us  consider  how  far  these 
places,  retaining  this  very  name  in  the  countries  where  it  was 
situate,  down  to  the  captivity,  may  be  of  weight  to  clear  this 
matter.  Ezekiel,  in  his  prophecy  against  Tyre,  whose  mer- 
chants traded  to  all  parts  of  the  Earth,  observes,  that  they 
had  been  at  the  garden  of  God.^  Where  now  was  the  place 
so  called  ?  In  what  land  ?  He  plainly  tells  us,  it  was  in  Eden.'' 
I  would  observe  what  the  merchandise  was,  which  the  Ty- 
rians  brought  thence ;  it  was,  saith  the  prophet,  many  pre- 
cious stones,  and  amongst  them  the  onyx-stone   and  gold;° 

9  Gen.  xiii,  10.  i  Ver.  1, 

2  It  may  seem  to  us  a  great  retrospect,  for  Abraham  to  look  back  for 
Adam's  first  habitation.  But  let  us  consider  the  length  of  men's  lives  from 
Adam  to  Abraham  ;  Adam  lived  to  see  Lamech  fifty-six  jears  old.  See  the 
table  of  antediluvian  lives,  according  to  the  Hebrew  chronology,  Connect,  vol. 
i,  b.  i.  Lamech  appears  to  have  been  a  person,  who  had  mucli  considered  the 
state  of  his  forefathers,  and  the  labours  they  had  from  the  ground,  in  God's 
having  cursed  it.  He  therefore  knew  what  had  been  the  error  of  Adam's  life; 
and  was  enabled  to  assure  his  contemporaries,  upon  the  birth  of  his  son  Noah, 
that  this  child  would  obtain  for  them  a  relief  of  their  difficulties.  See  Gen, 
V,  29.  Lamech  lived  to  within  five  years  of  the  Flood.  See  the  table  above 
cited.  Shem,  the  son  of  Noah,  was  one  hundred  years  old,  two  years  after  tlie 
Flood,  see  Gen.  xi,  10;  and  therefore  was  born  ninety-seven  years  before  the 
beginning  of  the  Flood,  and  ninety-two  years  before  the  death  of  his  grandfa- 
ther Lamech.  Shem  lived  five  hundred  and  two  years  after  the  Flood;  see 
Gen.  xi,  10,  i.e.  the  Flood  happening  A.  M.  1656.  See  Connect,  vol.  i,  b.  i, 
p.  57.  Shem  lived  to  A.  IM.  2158.  Abraham  was  born  A.  M.  2001 ;  see  Con- 
nect, vol.  i,  b.  v,  p.  168;  so  that  Shem  lived  to  see  Abraham  one  hundred  and 
fifty  years  old.  Abraham  therefore  might  converse  many  years  with  Shem, 
Shem  v/ith  Lamech,  and  Lamech  with  Adam ;  and  though  a  knowledge  of 
where  Adam  first  lived  may  seem  to  have  travelled  into  a  vast  tract  of  time,  to 
come  down  to  Abraham,  yet  we  may  observe  the  links.of  the  chain  of  tradition 
of  it  were  so  few,  that  we  may  think  it  really  not  more  remote  from  his  having 
a  full  account  of  it,  than  it  may  be  to  know  the  habitation  of  our  fatlier'-s 
grandfather. 

3  Ecclus.  xxiv,  ubi  sup.  <  Ezek.  xxviii,  Ij- 
5  Ibid  «  Ibid, 


136  THE  CREATION  AND  CHAP.  VIII. 

the  very  commodities  which  Moses  tells  us  was  the  produce 
of  this  country.^  Shall  we  doubt  where  the  prophet  supposed 
the  situation  of  this  country  of  Eden,  and  this  garden  of  God, 
was?  We  may  see  he  placed  it  near  Babylon,  and  amongst 
the  domains  of  the  Assyrian  empire.  Eden  seems  to  have 
been  beyond  Haran  and  Canneh,  near  to  Shebali  and  Ashur;^ 
all  which  well  agrees  with  Daniel's  being  upon  the  banks  of 
the  river  Iliddekel,  one  of  Moses's  rivers  of  Eden,  when  he 
was  among  the  children  of  the  captivity  at  Babylon.^  These 
are  very  plain  hints;  and  if  any  one  will  sa}'^  they  do  not 
amount  to  demonstration,  I  shall  not  contend  with  him;  yet, 
at  the  same  time,  I  think  I  may  venture  to  propose  a  serious 
consideration,  whether  they  do  not  concur,  and  induce  us  to 
admit,  that  the  garden  of  God  in  Eden,  was  a  place,  well 
known  by  that  name  to  Abraham  and  Lot,  and  many  ages 
after  by  the  Jews  in  the  days  of  their  captivity,  known  to  be 
situate  not  very  far  from  the  waters  of  Babylon?  •I'l^l  in  a  situa- 
tion very  well  agreeing  with  Moses's  description.  '  This 
seems  more  reasonable  than  all  the  trifling  suggestions,  which 
can  be  offered  to  make  us  think  otherwise. 

IV.  Let  us  consider  what  Moses's  description  of  the  land 
and  garden  of  Eden  precisely  is:  and  if  we  attend  carefully 
to  his  narration,  we  shall  find  that  it  plainly  gives  us  the  fol- 
lowing particulars:  L  That  a  river  went  out  of  Eden  and 
watered  the  garden.'  Eden,  then,  was  the  country  higher  up 
the  stream  than  the  garden  ;  for  the  river  ran  down  from 
Eden  to  the  garden.  2.  And  from  thence,  it  luas  parted  f- 
after  the  river  had  ran  past;  i.  e.  at  or  below  the  farther  end 
of  the  garden,  it  was  parted  ;  the  meaning  of  the  words  is  suf- 
ficiently clear;  the  river,  after  it  camiC  out  of  the  land  of 
Eden,  was  one  single  or  undivided  stream  to,  and  all  along 
the  garden;  but  when  it  had  passed  the  garden,  then  it  divided, 
and  branched  into  more  streams.  But,  3.  what  next  follows 
seems  more  confused:  \i  became  into  four  heads?  Heads  of 
rivers  are  the  springs  or  origin  from  whence  they  have  their 
waters;  so  that  to  say  of  rivers,  that  the  current  of  their 
stream  proceeds,  and  becomes  into  four  heads,  or  comes  to 
four  heads,  seems  to  be  an  inversion  of  nature,  a  kind  of  de- 
scribing them  as  running  upwards  to  their  fountains;  when, 
on  the  contrary,  all  streams  must  run  down  from,  and  not  to 
or  into,  their  heads.  The  Hebrew  particle  used  by  Moses, 
and  which  we  translate  into,  is  indeed  le,*  which  generally 
signifies  to  or  unto;  but  the  translators  ought  to  have  observed, 
that  it  sometimes  also  signifies y)'0?7i,  and  so  it  ought  to  have 
been  rendered  in  this  place.  In  the  Book  of  Chronicles 
we  read,  when  Solomon  was  made  king,  he,  and  all  the 

1  Gen.  ii,  11,12.  »  Ezek.  xxvii,  23. 

9  Dan.  ubi  sup.;  see  chap.  iii.anJ  v,  '  Gen.  ii,  10. 

!  Ibid.  ^  Ibid  -i  nwns'?  Heb.  text. 


CHAP.  VIII.  FALL  OF  MAN.  137 

congregation  with  him,  went  [nnn'?]  to  the  high  place  that 
was  at  Gibeon  ;  for  there  was  the  taliernacle  of  the  congre- 
gation of  Gov,  which  Moses,  the  servant  of  the  Lord,  had 
made  in  the  ivilderness.^  Here  the  particle  le  is  prefixed  to 
bamah,  and  signifies  to  or  imto  the  high  place.  But  in  the 
13th  verse  we  are  told,  Then  Solomon  came  [no3%]  (the 
same  prefix  and  word  is  again  used,)  our  English  version  says, 
from  his  journey  to  the  high  place,  that  was  at  Gibeon,  to 
Jerusalem ;  but  the  Hebrew  text  has  no  words  for  from  his 
journey.  The  vulgar  Latin,  therefore,  renders  the  passage 
more  truly,  "  venit  ergo  Salomon  ab  excelso  Gaboon  in  Jeru- 
salem:" the  Septuagint  say,  Kat  ri%^i  'Zo.ru.fxi^v  ex  jSaixa  ttji  iy 
raiaaujt'  ch  'iipovaa^t^ft.  The  fact  was,  Solomon  had  been  at 
the  high  place  at  Gibeon,  and  was  now  returning  back  again 
to  Jerusalem,  which  the  Hebrew  text  expresses  by,  the}i  Solo- 
mon came,  labbatnah,  from  the  high  place,  that  was  at  Gi- 
beon, to  Jerusalem.  Here  the  particle  le,  prefixed  to  bamah, 
signifies  y?'om;  though  it  is  as  plain,  that  in  the  3d  verse, 
prefixed  in  like  manner  to  the  same  word,  it  signifies  to  or 
xinto  ;  i.  e.  this  particle  in  the  Hebrew  tongue  may  have  either 
of  these  significations ;  and  the  necessary  sense  of  the  place 
must  guide  U9  when  to  give  it  the  one,  and  when  the  other: 
and  under  this  direction  in  the  text  of  Moses,  which  we  are 
considering,  it  must  signify  y?'o?7z,  and  not  into.  The  words 
of  Moses  are,  vehajah  le  arbanah  rashim,^  which  should  be 
rendered,  and  it  ivas  from  four  heads.  This,  then,  is  the 
express  account,  which  Moses  gives  of  the  river  of  Eden.  It 
came  from  Eden  to  water  the  garden ;  from  thence  it  parted ; 
from  Eden,  downwards  to  the  garden,  it  was  but  one  stream; 
beyond  the  garden  it  parted,  and  branched  into  more  streams. 
Moses  does  not  say  how  many  these  were,  nor  what  the 
courses  in  which  they  ran ;  but  he  returns  to  give  an  account 
of  the  one  stream  which  ran  down  to  the  garden,  which  he 
tells  us  was  made  by  the  confluence  of  four  rivers,  afterwards 
named  by  him,  Pison,  Gihon,  Hiddekel,  and  Euphrates.'' 

V.  We  are  to  consider,  whether  such  alterations  in  the  face 
of  the  country  and  rivers  of  Moses's  Eden  may  not  have  hap- 
pened since  his  time,  as  to  render  it  impossible  to  trace  every 
mark  of  the  garden  or  land  of  Eden,  as  he  described  it.  Let 
us  inquire,  nevertheless,  how  far  we  can  find  sufficient  marks 
of  its  situation. 


s  2  Chron.  i,  3. 

capitibiis  e  qiiatuor  et  fuit 
7  We  may  here  observe,  that  Dr.  Burnet  most  egreglously  mistook  Moses's 

expression.  He  asks,  insulting-,  "Die  ubiinterris quatuor  fluvii  nascuntur 

ab  uno  fonte?"  Archxol  p.  287,  288.  In  his  English  works;  "  Where  are 
there  four  rivers  in  our  continent,  that  come  irom  one  head r"  Iheory  of  the 
Earth,  vol.  i,  b.  ii,  c.  7.  He  would  insinuate  that  Moses  had  been  guilty  of 
an  absurdity;  but  he  did  not  understand  Moses;  the  absurdity  is  his  own. 


138  TflE  CREATION  AND  CHAP.  VIII. 

It  was  evidently  near  to  or  upon  the  Euphrates,^  upon  the 
Hiddekel,^  a  river  not  far  from  ancient  Babylon.^  It  was  in 
the  country  where  the  miojlity  empires  of  Assyria  had  their 
seat,  their  height  of  grandeur,  and  their' ruin.  Now,  when 
we  think  of  the  amazing  works  performed  by  the  ruling 
powers  in  these  countries,  in  their  alterations  of  the  course  of 
rivers;  building  and  removing  even  great  cities;  all  which 
are  since  become  no  better  than  a  vast  tract  of  stupendous 
ruins;  we  see  it  must  be  impossible  to  find  in  these  parts  any 
face  of  things,  to  such  a  minute  degree  as  Moses  described, 
ages  before  what  has  been  their  glory  in  all  the  various  works 
of  art,  and  labours  of  empire,  which  adorned  them,  and  which 
are  now  their  desolation. 

The  two  great  rivers  in  these  countries  are  the  Tigris  and 
the  Euphrates;  which  have  been  always  noted  by  all  geogra- 
phers, who  have  written  about  these  parts  of  the  world.  The 
Euphrates  was,  without  doubt,  the  Perath  of  Moses;  and  we 
may  well  allow  that  the  Tigris  was  his  Hiddekel,  considering 
that  it  is  called  by  Daniel  the  great  river.^  This  was  the 
eminent  title  of  the  Euphrates,^  and  it  is  not  likely  it  should 
be  given  to  any  lesser  stream,  which  could  not  be  compared 
with  it.  But  can  we  offer  a  similar  conjecture,  to  find  out 
what  river  was  the  Gihon  or  the  Pison  of  Moses  ?  I  confess  I 
think  not.  The  memorial  of  both  these  rivers  seems  to  have 
been  distinctly  kept  up,  to  the  time  of  the  author  of  the  Book 
of  Ecclesiasticus,  who,  according  to  Dean  Prideaux,  wrote  in 
Hebrew,  about  two  hundred  and  fifty  years  before  Christ,'* 
what  his  grandson,  above  a  century  later,  turned  into  Greek. 
This  writer  appears  to  refer  to  all  the  four*  rivers  mentioned 
by  Moses  as  well  known  in  his  time,  and  known  to  have  their 
extraordinary  flow,  annually,  like  the  river  Jordan;  but  those 
geographical  writers  we  have  now  extant,  are  but  modern  in 
comparison  of  the  age  even  of  this  author ;  none  of  them  being 
so  old  by  above  two  hundred  years,  and  some  who  are  often 
cited  as  old  writers,  falling  short  of  him  by  many  centuries. 
A  vast  change  began  to  be  made  in  the  face  of  this  country, 
before  the  writing  of  the  Book  of  Ecclesiasticus,  when  Se-  • 
leucus  built  Seleucia  on  the  Tigris,  which  proved  the  desola- 
tion of  old  Babylon.^  What  the  rivers  of  this  country  were, 
before  the  province  where  Babylon  had  stood  began  to  become 
a  heap  of  deserted  ruins,  might  be  recollected  when  the  wri- 
ter of  Ecclesiasticus  mentioned  them;  but  be  lost,  in  much 

8  Gen.  ii,  ubi  sup.  ^  Ibid.  '  Dan.  x,  ubi  sup. 

2  Ibid,  3  Gen.  xv,  ubi  sup. 

*  Prideaux  Connect,  part  ii,  book  v.  Anno  ante  Christum  1.32.  At  this 
time  the  learned  Uean  says  it  was  translated  into  Greek.  It  was,  he  says, 
orlg'inally  written  in  Hebrew  by  the  autlior  of  it,  about  ihe  time  when  Onias, 
the  second  of  that  name,  was  high  priest  at  Jerusalem,  which  was  about  anno 
ante  Christum  250.     See  his  Connect,  part  ii,  book  ii. 

5  Ecclus.  xxiv,  25—27. 

*  See  Prideaux,  Connect,  part  i,  book  viii. 


CHAP.  VIII.  FALL  OF  MAN.  139 

confusion,  before  the  earliest  writers  of  geography  after  his 
time,  whose  works  are  now  extant,  made  their  inquiries  into 
the  state  of  the  world.  For  I  think  Strabo's  is  the  most  an- 
cient work,  at  least  of  any  figure,  we  have  of  the  kind,  and  it 
was  not  composed  before  the  times  of  Tiberius.  If  Diony- 
sius  Periegetes  lived  about  the  same  age,  Pliny  and  Ptolemy 
were  much  later,  and  the  Nubian  geography  is  still  more 
modern.  And  we  may  observe,  that  from  whatever  more 
ancient  writers  Strabo,  or  any  who  followed  him,  had  to  col- 
lect, even  these  had  difficulties  about  the  waters  of  Babylon. 
They  had  no  clear  accounts  what  were  the  original  ancient 
rivers  which  might  here  concur;  or  what  were  the  artificial 
lakes,  streams,  and  canals,  cut  from  and  into  the  Euphrates, 
for  the  ornament  or  convenience  of  that  superb,  and,  beyond 
comparison,  great  and  populous  city.^  In  the  confusion  arising 
from  hence,  and  in  length  of  time  growing  inexplicable,  we 
may  reasonably  allow  that  all  knowledge  of  the  true  channels 
of  these  rivers,  Pison  and  Gihon,  has  been  lost;  and  we  should 
greatly  trifle  were  we  now  to  pretend,  through  curiosity,  to 
find  them.  The  material  point  is,  whether  we  have  not 
enough  left,  indisputably  certain,  to  convince  us  that  Moses's 
description  is  not  such  a  romance  as  our  modern  allegorists 
suppose. 

The  garden  of  Eden  bordered  upon  a  river  made  up  of  a 
confluence  of  four  streams,  one  of  which  was  the  Euphrates, 
the  other  Hiddekel.*  The  question  is.  Is  there  a  place  in  the 
world  where  these  two  rivers  and  other  streams  join  ?  I  an- 
swer, there  is ;  viz.  at  the  south-east  extent  of  the  province  of 
the  now  Irak  Arahi  of  the  Turkish  empire,  which  was  the 
ancient  Chaldaea;  at  the  place  where  the  Turks  now  have  a 
fortification,  called  Korna;  at  which  place,  the  Hiddekel,  or 
Tigris,  and  Euphrates,  with  some  other  lesser  streams,  fall  in 
and  make  one  river.  Let  us  inquire  farther,  do  these  rivers, 
thus  joined,  continue  to  run  in  one  stream,  as  Moses  mentions 
that  his  river  of  Eden  ran  down  from  F^den  to  the  garden  of 
God?  I  answer,  they  run  in  one  undivided  channel  down  to 
Bassora;  from  whence  they  are  parted,  and  run  in  streams, 
navigable  even  by  large  ships,  in  difierent  channels  into  the 
Persian  gulf.  An  inspection  of  the  map,  which  I  have  here 
inserted,  will  exhibit  what  I  off"er  in  the  clearest  view. 

Whether  these  rivers  were  so  large  in  Moses's  time  as  they 
are  now,  I  do  not  pretend  to  say;  though  it  is  obvious,  that 


'  Qiialis  facies  Euphratis  fuerit,  prlusquam  manu  factis  fossis  et  alveis  tlis- 
traherctur,  difficile  est  delineare;  nam  et  illse  fossa;  antiquiores  plerasq'ie  sunt, 
quam  Gi?eci,  a  quibus  et  naturx  rerun),  aut  ab  liorrunibus.gestarum  memoriam 
habemus,  ad  scribendum  et  liistorias  componendus,  aut  res  natiirs  tradiiidas 
se  composuerunt.  Cellarii  Geogr.  lib.  iii,  c.  16,  Strabo  makes  many  com- 
plaints of  the  incorrectness  of  the  Greek  geographers  in  many  parts  of  his 
work. 

*  Gen,  ii,  ubi  sup. 


140  THE  CREATION,  &C.  CHAP.  VIII. 

Hiddekel  was  a  great  river  in  Daniel's  days,'  and  the  Eu- 
phrates^ was  reputed  eminently  so  in  the  times  of  Abraham. 
It  was  the  taste  in  the  days  of  Moses  to  think  a  ground  well 
watered,  which  lay,  as  the  land  of  Egypt  did,  upon  the  con- 
fines of  some  great  and  overflowing  river;  so  that  a  man 
might  loater  it  with  his  foot^  might  trace  out  furrows,  or 
channels,  which  might  be  filled  with  the  flow  of  it,  and  con- 
vey v^^ater  to  the  plants  wherever  he  might  design  lines  for  its 
conveyance.  But,  leaving  the  reader  to  consider  and  deter- 
mine, as  he  thinks  fit,  whether,  in  the  first  world,  there  were 
an}^  snows  covering,  in  their  season,  the  hills  or  mountains 
whence  these  rivers  take  their  rise;  and,  if  there  were  not, 
whether  their  flow  might  not  be  less,  and  their  channels  not 
so  wide  and  deep  in  Adam's  days,  as  they  became  afterwards, 
when  greater  currents  made  their  way  tlirough  them ;  I  might 
remark,  that  this  augmentation  of  their  waters  may,  in  the 
hand  of  Providence,  have  been  one  mean  of  keeping  their 
channels  open  and  known  even  until  now,  and  likely  to  con- 
tinue so  to  the  end  of  the  world. 

The  course  of  the  Euphrates  may  be  traced  in  all  noted 
writers  of  geography;  and  is  plainly  to  be  seen,  in  all  the 
tracts  of  country  through  which  it  passes,  that  in  no  point,  but 
that  one  which  I  have  mentioned,  can  it  be  found  to  form  a 
confluence  with  other  rivers,  to  make  one  stream,  as  Moses 
describes ;  and  to  part  again,  before  it  runs  into  the  sea.  And 
if,  as  I  measure  it,  from  Korna  to  Bassora  be  not  above  sixty 
miles,  our  inquiry  after  the  earthly  paradise  is  brought  within 
a  narrow  compass;  and  however  inconsiderately  some  may  be 
disposed  to  ridicule  the  inquiry,  we  may  reasonably  conclude, 
that  we  cannot  be  far  from  the  spot  which  was  the  garden  of 
Eden,  any  where  in  the  confines  of  the  flow  of  this  river,  be- 
tween Korna  and  Bassora. 


9  Daniel,  ubi  sup.  •  Genesis,  ubl  sup. 

2  Deut.  xvi,  10.  Thus  Ezekiel  hints,  a  vine  so  planted  in  a  good  soil  by 
great  waters,  that  it  might  be  watered  by  the  furrows  of  her  plantation, 
Kzek.  xvii,  7. 


CHAPTER  IX. 


Concerning  the  Temptation  of  Eve  by  the  Serpent;  and 
her  and  Adam^s  eating  of  the  forbidden  Tree, 


WE  left  Adam  and  Eve  in  the  garden  of  Eden  ;  the  day 
after  their  creation  was  a  Sabbath,  to  be  employed  in  consi- ' 
dering  the  bounty  and  goodness  of  their  Creator;  what  ex- 
pectations he  had  given  them;  what  duties  were  enjoined 
them,  and  how  they  might  perform  them.  Now  when  this 
day  was  over,  and  they  began  to  employ  themselves  in  what 
God  had  appointed  them  to  do,  namely,  to  d?'ess  the  garde?i 
and  to  keep  it :  it  is  very  natural  to  think  that  they  went  out 
to  their  work  desirous  to  see  and  consider  the  creation  of  God, 
and  fully  purposing  to  revere  and  obey  him,  in  every  thing 
he  had  said,  or  should  farther  speak  to  them.  Dr.  Burnet 
supposes,  that  the  temptation  befel  them  instantly  on  the  very 
day  of  their  creation  ;^  but  it  is  observable,  that,  although  the 
narration  of  Moses  is  very  concise, 


Semper  ad  eventum  festinat- 


although  he  has  related  to  us  only  a  few  events,  upon  which 
all  the  whole  affairs  of  the  first  world  turned ;  and  relates 
them  in  their  order  as  they  were  done,  omitting  all  that  was 
intermediate  between  the  particulars  recorded  by  him ;  yet 
the  intervals  of  time  between  the  facts  recorded  must  have 
been  filled  up  in  a  manner  reasonably  agreeing  to  the  nature 

»  Istoc  die  creavit  omnia  pecora,  omnes  feras,  et  omnia  reptilia — denique 
creavit  Adamum, — finita  hac  opera  fabnfecit  fcrminam;  eodem  dieconjugium 
ineunt  mas  et  femina  recens  nati.— Eodem  die  nova  nupta,  nescio  quo  propo- 
sito,  vagata  inter  arbores  nemoris,  incidit  in  serpentem :  ille  serpens  collo- 
quium instituit  cum  famina:  argumenta  jactant  hac  illuc  de  quadam  .irbore 
aut  quodam  fi'uctu,  edcndo,  vel  non  edendo :  ilia  tandem  rationibus  aut  leno- 
ciniis  victa  fructum  comedit ;  neque  id  tantum,  sed  eundem  dcfert  marito> 
qui  pariter  comedit.     Archscol,  p.  295. 

Vol.  IV.  T 


142  THE  CUEATION  AND  CHAP.  IX. 

of  the  things  related,  and  the  character  of  the  persons  con- 
cerned in  them. 

Both  a  just  writer,  and  a  judicious  reader, 

Reddere  persona;  scit  convenienlia  cuique, 

Hon. 

will  know  how  to  say,  and,  where  it  is  not  necessary  to  be 
expressed,  how  to  think  what  is  suitable  to  every  character. 
But  it  is  hard  to  think,  that  God  should  permit  a  temptation, 
of  so  great  consequence,  to  break  forth  upon  our  first  parents, 
before  they  had  had  time  to  form  any  sort  of  thoughts  of 
things  about  them.  And  we  give  Adam  and  Eve  no  charac- 
ter at  all,  if  we  suppose,  that,  whilst  the  voice  of  God,  strictly 
charging  them  not  to  eat  of  the  tree,  had  scarce  ceased 
speaking  to  them,  they  would  cat,  because  they  heard  a  ser- 
pent say  they  might  safely  do  it.  If  Moses  had  expressly 
told  us,  that  they  thus  instantly  fell  into  the  sin  which  caused 
their  ruin,  he  had,  I  think,  laid  before  us  a  great  rock  of 
offence  against  his  narration.  For  to  suppose,  that  as  soon  as 
God  gave  the  prohibition,  Adam  and  Eve  would  immediately 
transgress  it,  implies  not  only  a  total  want  of  all  considera- 
tion in  our  first  parents,  but  something  incredibly  prone  not 
to  regard  Him,  who  had  showed  himself  to  be  the  only  proper 
person  to  be  regarded.  But  Dr.  Burnet  takes  up  the  senti- 
ment only  that  he  may  tragically  complain  of  Moses's  narra- 
tion :^  had  not  this  bias  possessed  him,  he  would  have  seen, 
that,  notwithstanding  any  thing  said  by  Moses,  many  days 
might  intervene  between  Adam  and  Eve's  creation,  and  their 
breaking  the  commandment  of  God. 

Our  English  poet  took  a  view  of  the  subject  in  a  better 
temper  and  disposition;  and  accordingly,  though  what  he 
supposes  is  a  mere  fiction  of  his  own,  not  at  all  warranted  by 
Moses,  or  suggested  by  an  inspired  writer,  nor  do  I  think  it 
true  in  fact,  yet  I  would  observe,  it  seemed  natural  to  suppose 
that  the  angel  Gabriel  had  spent  half  a  day  with  Adam  and 
Eve,  after  the  night  in  which  he  repi-esents  Eve  as  having 
had  a  troublesome  dream, ^  and  that  the  temptation  happened 
the  day  after  the  angel  left  them.'*  He  tells  us,  that  on  the 
day  when  the  angel  visited  them,  they  had  in  the  morning 
said 

Their  orisons  each  morning  duly  paid 
In  viirious  style. ^ 

"  Intra  nnius  diei  spatiolnm  hxc  omnia  confccta  Icgimus  :  ma£»na  et  multi- 
taria  negotia.  Scd  ardeo  dolure,  cum  tanrillo  tenipure  omnia  inversa  et  per- 
turbata  video,  totamijue  rcrum  nuturam  vixduni  compositam  et  adornatam 
ante  primi  solis  occasum,  ad  intcritum  ruere  et  deformari.  .Mane  diei  Deus 
dixit,  omnia  esse  bona :  sub  vespere  omnia  sunt  execrabilia.  Quam  fluxa  est 
lerum  creatarum  gloria!  Opus  claboratum  per  sex  dies,  idque  omnipotenti 
iTianu,  Infamis  bestia  totidem  horis  pcrdidlt.     Archseol.  p.  295. 

'^  See  Milton's  Paradise  Lost,  b.  v,  &.c. 

4  Ibid,  b.  ix,  i  Ibid.  b.  v,  ver.  115. 


CHAP.  IX.  FALL  OF  MAX.  143 

Which  implies,  that  he  conceived  they  had  had  divers  morn- 
ings, in  which  they  had  diversified  their  devotions.  I  cannot 
tell  how  any  one,  who  will  think  reasonably  upon  the  subject, 
can  be  satisfied  with  the  shocking  view  of  it  which  Dr.  Burnet 
sets  before  us.  But,  as  I  before  hinted,  what  misled  him  is 
obvious,  namely,  his  disposition  to  represent  Moses  intimat- 
ing, in  his  narration,  that  the  works  of  God's  infinite  wisdom, 
displayed  for  six  days  together,  by  creating  and  forming  a 
wonderful  system  in  the  fabric  of  a  world,  were  all  ruined 
and  undone  by  a  low  reptile,  a  serpent,  in  as  few  hours.^  The 
reflection  is  so  offensive,  that  if  some  strange  perversion  has 
not  seized  our  hearts,  we  must  hesitate  and  consider,  whether 
what  is  thus  said  was  indeed  thus  done :  and  hence  we  shall 
be  easily  led  to  remark,  that  the  ruin  which  happened  was  not 
so  absurdly  precipitate  as  our  author  represents  it. 

Our  first  parents  went  out  daily  to  take  care  of  their  garden, 
and  made  their  observations  of  the  things  which  occurred  to 
them.  They  named  the  living  creatures  as  they  found  oppor- 
tunity to  see  and  consider  them.  And  upon  the  serpent's 
coming  in  their  way,  and  being  observed  by  them,  he,  in  a 
human  voice,  spake  unto  Eve.''  They  were  not  now  such 
novices  as  not  to  have  remarked,  that  no  other  creature,  could 
thus  speak,  which  occasioned  them  to  think,  what  is  recorded, 
that  the  serpent  ivas  7nore  subtle  than  any  beast  of  the  field, 
which  the  Lord  had  made.^  Had  the  serpent's  speaking  to 
them  happened  early  in  the  beginning  of  their  life,  before 
they  had  made  observations  of  the  other  creatures,  they  would 
have  had  no  notion  of  the  serpent's  being  herein  superior  to 
other  animals ;  for  they  might  have  expected,  that  all  other 
animals  could  speak  to  them  in  like  manner.  Therefore  it 
may  reasonably  be  inferred,  that  many  days  had  passed  be- 
tween their  creation  and  the  serpent's  thus  speaking  to  them ; 
as  many,  as  we  can  judge,  must  have  intervened,  before  they 
could  know  in  general  concerning  the  living  creatures,  that 
none  of  them,  except  the  serpent,  had  any  power  to  speak. 
But  we  ought  to  remark,  that  they  were  not  yet  masters  of 
so  much  science  as  to  know,  that  thus  to  speak  could  not  be 
within  the  natural  powers  of  a  brute  creature,  for  it  gave  them 
neither  fear  nor  amazement.  Had  they  apprehended,  that 
the  serpent's  speaking  had  been  an  incident  miraculous  and 
unnatural,  they  would,  as  Moses  did,  when  he  saw  the  busli 
burning  with  fire,  and  not  consumed,^  have  turned  aside  to 
see  this  great  sight;  and  would  have  been  greatly  confounded 
at  what  could  be  the  meaning  of  so  unnatural  a  prodigy.  But, 
as  Moses  represents,  they  heard  what  was  said  to  them  as  un- 
disturbed and  unmoved  as  they  would  have  been  by  any  other 
new  but  ordinary  incident,  which   could   have  come  under 

6  Burnet,  sup.  cltat,  ,       7  Gen.  Hi,  1, 

«  Ibid.  '  Exod.  iii,  3, 


144  THE  CREATION  AND        CHAP.  IX. 

their  observation.  Therefore,  agreeably  to  this,  we  ought  to 
fix  the  time  of  Eve's  being  tempted  as  not  happening  until 
she  and  Adam  had  observed  in  general  concerning  the  animal 
creation,  that  none  of  them  had  the  gift  of  speech ;  and  they 
could  not  have  observed  this  of  the  several  species  of  creatures 
in  the  world  in  a  very  few  days.  It  happened  before  they 
knew  it  to  be  a  miraculous  thing  for  an  animal  to  speak,  and 
therefore  it  unquestionably  did  happen  early  in  their  lives.^ 

Moses  calls  the  serpent  tyn:  (nachash) ;-  it  is  the  general 
word  for  a  serpent  used  throughout  the  Old  Testament,  and 
was,  perhaps,  the  original  name,  which  Adam  gave  this  ani- 
mal, if  we  make  allowance  for  some  variation  in  pro'nouncing 
the  word,  after  words  became  of  more  syllables  than  one.^ 
The  word  signifies  an  augur,  diviner,  or  foreteller  of  things 
to  come.**  It  appears  that  Adam's  manner,  in  naming  things, 
was  to  consider  some  particular  property  in  them,  and  from 
that  to  name  them.  Thus  knowing  that  Eve  had  been  made 
out  of  him,  himself  being  aish,^  man,  he  called  her  aishah,^ 
which  we  render  woman.  And  thus  he  afterwards  gave  her 
another  name,  and  called  her  Chaiah,  or  Chevah,  Eve ;  as 
soon  as  he  was  told  she  was  to  bear  children,  and  be  the  tuo- 
ther  of  all  (chai)"  living,''  of  all  their  descendants,  who  were 
to  derive  life  from  them.  So  here,  the  serpent  speaking,  and 
foretelling,  that  they  should  have  their  eyes  opened,  and  be 
as  gods,^  Adam  called  him  the  diviner  or  foreteller  of  what 
was  to  come  {nachash.)  If  this  may  be  admitted,  it  will 
farther  hint,  that  Adam  had  lived  some  time  before  the 
temptation  ;  for  in  the  first  moments  of  life,  before  he  had 
had  any  kind  of  practice  both  of  eyes  and  understanding,  to 
consider  the  difference  between  seeing  and  knowing  imme- 

•  •  Syiiccllus  cites  some  Minutes  of  the  Book  of  Genesis,  which  supposes 
seven  years  to  have  passed  before  the  transgression.  The  passage  cited  by 
SynceUus  is  in  tliese  words,  under  the  title  of  'E;t  tu>]i  asttw  Tev(irut>; :  T» 
iOfc/uai  tTii  ■TrapiCn  ['AtA*,u,]  kui  Taj  iyJ^otf  i^epfufna-Av  rm  TrapaJ'iia-oVf  o;  p«0"/,  fAtrif, 
Tto-ad.jiUK.ov'ra.  jtsvte  rfAipuc  t«c  Trap-xC^auc,  tv  t«  s3-;ts;.)<  tuv  UkuuJ^u'v.  Syncelius,  p. 
8.  What  may  be  the  authority  of  tbe  antiquity  of  this  frai^ment,  or  whether 
it  was  originally  written  in  a  language  more  ancient  than  its  present  Greek,  I 
cannot  say ;  but  by  its  mentioning  the  Pleiades,  I  should  think  it  is  not,  in 
any  language,  as  old  as  the  time  of  jNIoses,  For  however  early  asterisms,  or 
a  combined  plurality  of  stars,  were  formed,  as  they  certainly  were  \ev\  early, 
because  such  are  mentioned  in  the  Book  of  Job,  yet  as  Moses  hints  nothing 
like  them  in  his  books,  I  think  we  must  look  for  this  astronomy  in  times  later 
than  his  days.  This  cit.ation  then  gives- no  authority  to  warrant  our  saying, 
that  seven  years  passed  before  Adam's  ti-ansgression ;  though,  in  the  reason  of 
things,  we  will  allow,  that  a  competent  time  must  have  passed,  before  our  first 
parents  could  know  enough  to  excite  in  their  hearts  even  a  conceit  of  desiring 
to  be  wise,  or  a  notion  of  becoming  so,  without,  or  in  opposition  to,  their 
Maker. 

-  tfm.  Gen,  iii,  1.  ^  See  Connect,  vol.  i,  book  ii,  p.  86, 

■*  The  verb  btij,  from  which  the  word  denoting  the  serpent  is  derived,  signi- 
fies, where  it  is  used  in  the  Old  Testament,  "  Auguratus  est,  augurium  fecit- 
divinavit,  ominatuscst:  certas  conjecturas  habuit," 

5  Gen.  ii,  23  ;  see  Connect,  vol.  ii,  book  ix,  p.  245. 

•i  Gen.  ii,  23.  "^  Chap,  iii,  20.  »  Ver  5 


CHAP.  IX.  FALL  OF  MAN.  145 

diate  objects,  anti  considering  and  pronouncing  things,  which 
should  afterwards  come  to  pass,  he  could  not  in  anywise  give 
the  serpent  a  name,  implying  such  a  determinate  sentiment 
concerning  him. 

Milton  represents  Eve  as  being  alone,  without  Adam  pre- 
sent, when  the  serpent  spake  to  her ;  but  we  ought  to  observe, 
that  Moses  does  not  say  this,  nor  is  there  any  thing  any  where 
hinted  by  the  sacred  writers  to  induce  us  to  admit  it.  Milton's 
design  was  to  make 

Ex  noto  fictum  carmen. ' 

Hon. 

He  took  the  fact,  as  Moses  related  it,  for  the  ground  of  his 
poem ;  but  ornamented  it  in  his  own  way,  by  a  variety  of 
episodes,  such  as  he  thought  might  naturally  coincide  with 
what  Moses  had  related,  and  thus  both  to  ediiy  and  entertain 
his  reader.  And  he  has  nowhere,  in  his  performance,  worked 
up  a  scene  more  natural,  than  by  representing  the  vanity  of 
Eve  desiring  to  work  apart  by  herself;  the  manner  of  the 
temptation,  and  success  of  it ;  her  address  to  Adam  after  she 
had  eaten  the  forbidden  fruit ;  his  foreseeing,  better  than  she 
had  done,  the  ruin  into  which  she  was  fallen ;  the  fond  but 
rash  resolution  he  took,  rather  to  perish  with  her  than  live 
without  her;  the  turbulent  scenes  of  passion  and  disgust,  of 
mutual  accusation  and  resentment,  which  soon  arose,  when 
both  were  become  guilty ;  elegantly  expressing  how  certain 
it  is,  that  the  being  partakers  in  sin  will  not  satisfy  but  disturb 
the  soul.  But  however  elegantly  Milton  may  have  repre- 
sented these  things,  if  we  truly  judge  of  the  subject,  as  Moses 
relates  it,  we  must  plainly  perceive,  that  all  this  is  Milton's 
imagination,  and  not  the  history  of  Moses.  Moses  does  not 
hint,  that  Eve  had  to  go  any  distance  from  the  place  where 
she  had  eaten,  to  carry  the  fruit  of  the  tree  to  her  husband  ; 
but  she  took  of  the  fruit  of  the  tree,  and  did  eat,  and  gave 
also  unto  her  husbaiid  with  her,  and  he  did  eat}  The  point 
here  treated  proceeds  without  any  discontinuance :  her  hus- 
band was  with  her  at  the  time ;  she  ate,  and  reached  to  him  ; 
he  partook  of  what  she  had  taken,^  and  ate  also.  The  serpent 
indeed  spake  only  to  Eve,  and  she  only  replied  to  him ;  she 
admitted  his  temptation,  and  added  a  sentiment  of  her  own 
to  strengthen  it.  The  serpent  told  her  she  would  become 
wise  in  eating ;  she  had  no  fear  of  being  overwise,  though 
the  danger  threatened  was,  that  she  would  thereby  destroy 
herself.  She  perceived,  that  the  tree  was  good  for  food,  that 
it  \\^%  pleasant  to  the  eyes,  and  a  tree  to  be  desired  to  make 

^  Paradise  Lost,  b.  ix.  i  Gen.  ili,  6. 

-  If  she  had  carried  fruit  to  her  husband,  he  not  being  upon  the  spot,  to 
eat  at  the  same  time  with  her,  this  would  have  required  other  words,  thai* 
Ujose  used  by  Moses,  to  express  it. 


146  THE  CREATION  AND  CHAP.  IX. 

one  wise  ;  but  did  not  consider  nor  know,  that  there  could  be 
no  loisdom,  nor  understanding,  nor  counsel  against  God  : 
and  Adam,  we  read,  hearkened  unto  the  voice  of  his  wife? 
Thus  far  we  may  say,  in  the  words  of  the  apostle,'  Adam 
was  not  deceived  ;  not  meaning,  as  the  poet  intimates,  that 
Adam  had  such  superior  sense  and  judgment  beyond  Eve,  as 
absolutely  to  reject  the  temptation,  if,  after  she  had  eaten  and 
was  thereby  ruined,  he  had  not  rather  chosen  to  die  with  than 
to  live  without  her^  (for  this  is  entirely  Milton's  fiction  :) 
but  the  woman.,  being  deceived,  was  in  the  transgression  : 
the  serpent  throiigh  his  subtlety  deceived  Eve.^  The  words 
spoken  by  the  serpent  were  all  the  subtlety  they  knew  of  him; 
these  caught  Eve's  imagination  first;  Adam  was  first  formed, 
then  Eve  -^  but  Adam,  was  not  deceived ;  the  apostle  means, 
Adam  was  not  deceived  first.  Here  Eve  unhappily  took  the 
pre-eminence,  and,  by  adding  to  what  the  serpent  had  said, 
led  her  husband  also  to  be  deceived.  This  I  take  to  be  the 
true  meaning  of  what  the  Scriptures  declare  upon  the  subject. 
But  it  will  be  said,  there  are  much  greater  points,  than  what 
I  have  mentioned,  which  ought  here  to  be  well  explained :  as, 
I.  How  is  it  possible,  that  a  serpent  should  spealc,  as  Moses 
supposed  ?  I  answer,  we  can  form  so  clear  a  judgment  of  the 
natural  capacity  and  ability  of  the  brute  creation,  that  I  may 
be  allowed  to  say,  1.  That  the  serpent  could  not,  of  himself, 
speak  the  words,  which,  according  to  Moses,  came  from  him. 
But,  2.  The  tongue  of  the  serpent  might  be  so  vibrated,  or 
moved,  by  some  superior,  invisible  agent,  as  to  utter  the 
sounds,  or  words,  which  Moses  tells  us  Eve  heard.  This,  I 
think,  must  readily  be  allowed  by  any  one,  who  considers 
how  the  tongue  of  Balaam's  ass  was  moved,  speaking  in 
')nan''s  voice,  to  forbid  the  madness  of  that  jirophet?  But, 
3.  I  would  add  here  what  I  have  considered  more  at  large 
upon  that  case,^  that  we  cannot  reasonably  suppose,  that  the 
serpent  here  speaking  to  Eve,  any  more  than  the  ass  there 
speaking  to  Balaam,  understood  the  meaning  of  one  word 
which  it  spoke.  Both  their  tongues  were  moved  otherwise 
than  of  themselves  they  would  have  moved  them ;  they  were 
so  moved,  that  such  sounds  proceeded  from  them  as  were  sig- 
nificant w^ords  to  the  person,  who  heard  and  understood  such 
words  when  spoken.  But  these  sounds  conveyed  no  meaning 
to  the  serpent,  or  to  the  ass;  both  of  whom,  I  apprehend, 
had  spoken  without  any  apprehension  or  intention  of  the 
sounds  which  came  from  them.  In  all  this  there  was  plainly 
a  miracle;  for,  that  the  thing  was  impossible,  cannot  reason- 
ably be  asserted,  unless  we  can  assert,  that  the  air  could  not 
be,   by  the   power  of  z.wy  agent  whatsoever,    in  using  the 

•5  Gen.  iii,  6—17.  ••  1  Tim.  ii,  14. 

*•  Paradise  Lost,  book  ix,  vcr.  896,  &c. 

«  1  Tim.  ii,  14;  2  Cor.  xi,  3.  '  1  Tim.  iibi  sup. 

»  2  Pet.  ii,  IP.  '  See  Connect,  vol.  iii,  hook  xii,  p.  "^7' 


CHAP.  IX.  FALL  OF  MAN.  147 

tongue  of  a  serpent,  put  into  this  or  that  motion,  to  cause 
what  words  such  agent  designed  to  be  sounded  by  it.  But, 
4.  Was  it  then  God,  who  miraculously  caused  the  tongue  of 
the  serpent  to  utter  the  words  spoken  ?  In  the  case  of  Ba- 
laam, the  text  tells  us,  that  the  Lord  opened  the  mouth  of 
the  %<^  .-^  shall  we  here  say,  the  Lord  God  opened  the  mouth 
of  the  serpent  in  like  manner  ?  I  answer,  No  :  the  deceiving 
our  first  parents  by  a  miracle  cannot  be  deemed  a  work  worthy 
of  God  ;  but  seems  much  more  suitable  to  him,  whom  our 
New  Testament  denominates,  that  old  serpent,  called  the 
Devil  and  Satan,  loho  deceiveth  the  ivhole  ivorld.^  The 
falsehood,  spoken  by  the  serpent  to  Eve,  seems  to  come  na- 
turally enough  from  him,  who,  when  he  speaketh  a  lie,  speak- 
eth  of  his  own,  he  being  the  original  autlior  of  falsehood  ; 
for  he  is  a  liar,  and  the  father  of  it  ;^  and  our  blessed 
Saviour  hints,  that  he  was  the  real  person  who  deceived 
Eve,  for  he  was  a  murderer  from  the  beginni7ig ;*  and  it 
was  by  him  that  death  came  into  the  worlds  Therefore, 
we  have  such  intimations,  that  it  was  not  God,  but  Satan, 
who  spake  to  our  first  parents  by  the  serpent.  But  the  ques- 
tion, which  will  here  occur,  is,  5.  Can  we  then  say,  that 
there  is  any  power  in  the  universe,  except  the  power  of  Him, 
who  is  God  over  ctll,  blessed  for  ever,  that  can  make  altera- 
tion in  the  natural  faculties  of  any  creature,  or  cause  a  mere 
serpent  to  be  heard  speaking  in  man's  voice,  whatever  he  may 
purpose  to  have  spoken?  If  we  say  there  may  be  any  such 
power,  it  will  be  queried,  whether,  in  supposing  it,  we  do 
not  set  up  two  opposite  and  contending  powers,  each  able, 
beyond  our  capability  to  distinguish  their  limitation,  to  create 
or  give  things  a  new  nature  contrary  to  their  true  one  ?  And 
do  we  not  hereby  lay  a  foundation  for  great  confusion  of  sen- 
timent concerning  God,  and  his  power  over  the  world .'' 

I  answer,  1.  I  apprehend  there  was  no  change  made  in  the 
nature  of  the  serpent,  by  his  speaking  to  Eve,  from  what,  in 
every  respect,  he  was  before.  He  was  the  same  reptile;  went 
upon  his  belly,  even  then,  as  a  serpent  now  does  f  had  the 
same  mouth,  and  tongue,  the  instrument  of  speech,  which  a 
serpent  still  hath.  His  tongue  was,  indeed,  moved  in  a  way 
which  he  had  not  been  accustomed  to  move  it,  and  made  such 
sounds  as  he  never  made  before  nor  since.  Adam  and  Eve, 
who  heard  him  thus  speak,  and  understood  what  he  spake, 
but  did  not  yet  know  that  it  was  not  natural  for  a  serpent  to 
have  this  faculty,  readily  appi-ehended,  as  indeed  they  well 
might,  not  knowing  by  what  power  he  spake  to  them,  that  he 
was  a  creature  of  greater  sagacity^  than  all  other  creatures  of 
the  animal  world ;  all  the  rest  appearing  to  them  to  be  dumb, 
add. not  capable  of  such  conversation.     Yet  all  this  while,  I 

«  Numb,  xxli,  28.  -  Kev.  xii.  9.  3  John  viii,  44. 

*  Ibid.  '■  Wisdom  ii,  24.  *^  Vide  quae  postea. 


148  THE  CREATION  AND  CUAP.  IX. 

cannot  conceive,  that  the  serpent  was  at  all  wiser  when  he 
was  speaking,  than  whilst  he  was  dumb.  For,  as  the  vibra- 
tions of  tongue,  which  gave  the  sounds  he  uttered,  were  just 
as  involuntary  and  unconceived  by  him,  as  any  mechanical  or 
convulsive  motions  can  be;  the  serpent  knew  no  more  what 
his  tongue  had  uttered,  than  if  the  words  spoken  hadlbeen 
blown  across  by  a  wind,  which  had  no  connection  witn  him. 
2.  That  Satan,  that  spiritual  being,  who,  in  the  New  Testa- 
ment, is  styled  the  Prince  of  the  air,  may  have  a  power  to 
make  in  the  air,  by  the  tongue  of  any  bird,  beast,  or  animal, 
sounds  of  significant  words,  if  God  shall  permit,  does  not,  as 
far  as  I  conceive,  contradict  any  principle  of  true  philoso- 
phy; any  more,  than  that  he  might  inflict^  on  Job,  or  may 
inflict  on  any  of  us,  boils,  sickness,  or  many  other  evils,  if 
permission  be  given  him.  But  herein  the  dependance  of  all 
powers  upon  God  is  preserved  and  acknowledged ;  herein  we 
guard  against  all  notions  of  two  independent  principles,  the 
one  good,  and  the  other  evil :  by  showing,  in  all  that  has  been 
done  by  the  great  agent  of  evil,  that  no  one  thing  was  ever 
done  by  him,  but  just  so  far  as  God  permitted  him  to  go,  and 
no  farther.  Of  the  great  adversary,  who  seduced  our  first  pa- 
rents, let  us  consider  all  that  was  done  by  him :  Did  he  speak 
to  them  from  Heaven,  in  a  voice,  as  God  spake  to  them  ? 
No.  Why  did  he  not?  He  was  not  permitted  to  speak  in 
this  manner.  Did  he  appear  to  them  in  person;  in  a  simili- 
tude that  might  carry  dignity,  and  create  himself  respect? 
No ;  any  thing  of  this  sort  was  not  allowed  him.  Did  he 
cause  some  noble  and  respectable  creature  of  the  world  to 
propose  his  insinuation?  This  he  was  not  suffered  to  do.  Did 
he  create  even  a  serpent  suitable  to  the  intention  he  designed 
to  serve  by  it?  This  can  in  nowise  be  pretended.  He  was 
allowed,  indeed,  to  use  a  creature  of  this  very  low  species, 
but  to  use  it  only  at  a  time,  when  the  persons  tempted  had 
not  such  knowledge  of  the  nature  of  a  serpent,  as  to  think  it  at 
all  miraculous  to  hear  one  speaking.  And  when  he  had 
liberty  to  use  this  animal,  was  he  able  to  make  it  speak  ele- 
gantly, what  great  parts  and  capacity  would  have  invented 
upon  the  subject?  Not  at  all.  What  Milton  has  intimated, 
may  abundantly  show  a  field  to  expatiate  in,*  if  the  tempter 

■  The  author  of  tlie  Book  of  Samuel  had  this  notion  of  the  ag^ency  of  the 
wicked  one,  that  he  could  do  nothing',  but  under  the  permission  and  control  of 
God;  and,  accordingly,  says  of  David's  numbering  the  people,  that  God 
moved  him  to  do  it,  2  Sam.  xxiv,  1;  when,  in  fact,  the  instigation  came  imme- 
diately, not  from  Gon,  but  from  Sat.an.  Sec  1  Chron.  xxi,  1.  But  tlie  author 
of  the  Hook  of  Samuel  intended  tf  establisli  it  as  an  universal  truth,  that  Gon 
was  supreme,  and  notliing  could  be  done  without  him.  Had  not  God  permitted, 
Satan  herein  could  have  done  nothing:  and  tins,  and  nothing  but  this,  was 
intended  in  saying,  that  he,  the  LonD,  moved  David  to  number  the  people. 

8  Milton  carries  on  the  temptation  in  a  fine  i:)rocess  of  reasoning,  supposed 
by  him  to  have  been  artfully  used  by  the  serpent ;  any  part  of  which  must  have 
been  infallibly  too  much  for  our  Jirst  parents,  in  the'state  of  their  knowledge 


CHAP.  IX.  TALL  OF  MAN.  149 

had  been  suffered  to  argue  copiously  upon  the  point  proposed. 
But,  in  fact,  the  tempter  was  only  permitted  to  bring,  from 
the  mouth  of  his  agent,  little  more  than  a  bare  negation  of 
what  had  been  affirmed  by  the  voice  of  God.  In  the  event, 
indeed,  little  as  he  said,  he  said  enough;  for  he  succeeded. 
But  all  this  while,  an  impartial  examiner  must  allow,  that  no 
temptation  was  suffered  to  befal  our  first  parents,  which  could 
have  had  weight  with  them,  unless  they  gave  up  the  great 
principle,  without  which  nothing  could  be  wise  or  strong  in 
them;  namely,  that  they  were  to  obey  God.  They  had 
heard  Him,  who  made  them,  say  they  should  not  eat: 
they  heard  a  serpent,  a  low  and  creeping  creature,  vastly 
beneath  themselves,  say  they  might  eat.  They  apprehend- 
ed nothing  wonderful  in  this  animal's  speaking,  so  that 
no  thought  of  a  miracle  had  any  weight  with  them.  What 
then  determined  them  ?  We  are  told,  Adam  hearkened  to  the 
voice  of  his  wife  f  and  it  is  plain,  that  though  the  serpent 
was  the  occasion  of  Eve's  falling,  yet  judging  for  herself,  con- 
trary to  the  direction  of  God,  that  as  the  tree  was  pleasant 
to  the  sight,  and  good  for  food,  so  it  was  to  be  desired  to 
make  one  wise,  was  what  made  the  temptation  too  hard  for 
'her.  But  when  the  apostle  tells  us,  the  serpent  beguiled 
Eve  by  his  subtlety,^  does  the  expression,  here  used  by  him, 
absolutely  coincide  with  what  I  have  been  now  saying  ?  I 
answer,  perfectly  so :  the  apostle  only  represented  a  plain  and 
real  fact,  as  it  was  most  evidently  done;  and  it  is  a  very  pro- 
per way,  thus  to  speak  of  things  being  done  as  they  are  evi- 
dently seen  to  be,  without  always  diving  to  the  bottom,  or 
true  springs  and  causes  of  them.  Moses  relates,  that  the  ser- 
pent was  subtle,  and  said — ;  his  speaking  was  the  subtlety 
remarked  of  him;  from  his  speaking  to  her.  Eve  received 
sentiments  by  which  she  was  deceived.  What  now  could  be 
said  with  more  propriety  of  diction,  than  that  the  serpent, 
who  really  and  truly  spake  to  her,  beguiled  her?  The  apostle 
was  no  more  obliged  to  discuss  here,  whether  the  serpent 
spake  sua,  or,  nicely  distinguishing,  7ion  sua  verba;  whether 
subtlety  used  by  him  was  of  his  own  natural  sagacity,  or  of 
another's  suggestion;  or,  whether  the  persons  beguiled  by 
him,  did  not  add  sentiments  of  their  own  to  his  intimation, 
than  if  his  converts  had  suffered  what  he  was  afraid  of, 
namely,  their  being  corrupted  from  the  simplicity  of  the  gos- 
pel by  any  one  speaking  to  them  things  contrary  thereto ;  he 
must,  if  he  had  charged  the  person  so  speaking  with  having 
corrupted  them,  have  strictly  determined,  whether  what  such 
person  said  to  them  was  his  own  contrivance,  or  only  words 

of  the  reason  of  things,  to  be  able  to  gainsay  or  contradict.    But  all  thw  is 
Milton's  fancy;  for  Moses  in  nowise  represents  them  as  having  been  thus 
tempted  above  what  they  were  able.    See  Milton,  book  is,  ver.  532— "22. 
?  Gen.  iii,  17.  i  2  Coi'.  xi,  3. 

Vol.  IV.  U 


150  THE  CREATION  AND        CHAP.  IX, 

dictated  to  him  by  some  other;  and  whether  no  improvement 
of  what  he  said  came  into  the  minds  of  those  who  were  se- 
duced by  him.  This  might  be  a  matter  proper  to  be  consi- 
dered, if  the  nature  of  the  guilt  of  him,  who  had  deceived 
them,  was  the  subject  inquired  into ;  but  was  in  nowise  ne- 
cessary, if  tlie  fact  only  was  to  be  related,  viz.  by  whom  they 
had  been  deceived.  The  serpent  beguiled  Eve  through  his 
subtlety.'^  The  apostle  barely  recognizes  a  fact,  really  done, 
as  Moses  had  recorded  it ;  the  words,  which  Eve  had  heard 
from  the  serpent,  were  all  she  knew  of  the  serpent's  subtlety. 
Therefore  we  carry  the  apostle's  words  to  a  view  farther  than 
he  designed,  if  we  suppose  him  deciding  from  whom  origi- 
nally, and  by  what  manner  of  reasoning,  the  temptation 
offered  to  Eve  proceeded  ;  for  he  only  reminds  us,  from 
whose  mouth  the  words  actually  came,  which  ministered  the 
temptation  which  proved  her  ruin.  But  the  next  point  may 
have  greater  difficulties:  for  let  us  consider, 

II.  Whether  it  can  be  conceived,  that  the  infinitely  good 
God,  the  God,  not  only  of  all  power,  but  of  all  truth,  and 
all  rectitude,  should  admit,  as  it  were,  the  throne  of  iniquity 
to  have  fellotvship  with  him,  to  frame  mischief  by  a  lawP 
Can  we  think,  that  God  would  make  a  law  intrinsically  of  no- 
importance,  and  then  suffer  a  throne  of  wickedness,  a  power 
or  principality  of  darkness,  the  Devil  or  any  of  his  angels,  to 
frame  mischief  from  it ;  to  contrive  to  have  it  broken,  only 
to  bring  thereby  labour  and  sorrow,  sin,  misery,  and  death, 
upon  men  ?  Can  we  think  that  God,  having  made  a  rank  of 
creatures  of  a  lower  degree  of  light  and  understanding,  but 
such,  that,  if  not  tempted  by  some  other,  they  would  have 
persevered  in  their  obedience  to  him,  and  been  happy,  would 
permit  a  wicked  spirit,  of  higher  abilities  than  they,  to  attack 


2  2  Cor.  xi,  3. 

3  Psal.  xciv,  20.  There  are  passages  in  the  Book  of  Psalms,  which,  though 
we  may  inattentively  overlook  them,  hint  at  and  refute  ancient  abstruse  no- 
tions, whicli  obtained  amongst  the  then  sages  of  the  world,  who  were  not 
possessed  of  the  true  religion.  One  of  these  sentiments,  recorded  by  Theo- 
pompus,  as  being  a  tenet  of  the  ancient  magi,  that  dvASicaxia-d'ij  tkc  dv^fcerisc, 
KM  stTM-S-cu  d^dVAra;,  km  ret  cvtsl  tm!  nircev  ijruMo-nTi  S'lttfAivnr  (see  Diogen.  Laert. 
&c.  in  Proem,  p.  7.)  seems  to  be  considered  and  refuted  in  Psal.  xlix,  m  what 
the  T'salmist  offers,  for  due  observation,  hoio  ivise*  men  die,  likexvise  the  fool, 
and  the  brutish  person,  perish,  and  leave  their  wealth  to  others;  contrary  to  what 
he  intimates  as  the  inward  thought  of  some,  who  seemed  to  suppose,  that 
tfieir  houses  should  continue  for  ever,  and  their  d-uellinj-places  to  all  generations^ 
and  they  call  their  lands  after  their  own  names — &c.  In  like  manner ;  as  the 
power  of  God  and  of  Satan  in  the  affairs  of  the  world  appears  to  have  been  a 
subject  not  unthougiit  of,  in,  and  before,  David's  times  (see  .Job  i  and  ii ;  2 
Sam.  xxiv,  compared  with  I  Chron.  xxi,  above  cited;)  I  cannot  determine, 
whether  the  throne  of  iniquity,  mentioned  by  the  Psalmist,  and  what  is  said 
<i"  it,  had  a  view  only  to  wicked  earthly  rulers,  as  the  commentators  seem  to 
tak?  it,  or  might  be  designed  to  ex|)lotle  false  doctrines  of  a  higher  nature, 
concerning  the  two  principles,  which  some  very  early  sages  supposed  to  have 
each  iti  share  of  power  over  the  world:  n^KrCwnpou;  ihau  tcv  AiyuTrriav,  mii  ii^* 
•4«t'  stoTW  uvM  'Ap;^«c,  dyt^ov  (fa/Mov*  km  jtocsv  (fa/yuov*.  Laert.  ubi  sup 


CHAP.  IX.  FALL  OF  MAN.  151 

these  creatures  in  a  way,  wherein,  without  his  permission,  he 
coud  not  have  had  access  to  them,  and  thereby  beguile  and 
ensnare  them  into  ruin  ?  Should  we  not  rather  think  it  more 
reasonable,  that,  if  God  gave  our  first  parents  such  a  law  as  has 
been  mentioned  and  if,%eing  left  to  themselves,  they  would 
not  have  swerved  from  it,  he  should  not  have  permitted  any 
agent  to  have  herein  perverted  them  ?  The  objection  has  in 
it  a  variety,  that  ought  to  be  considered  m  several  parts,  if 
we  would  fully  and  truly  answer  it. 


CHAPTER  X. 


The  Objection  last  stated  considered  and  refuted. 

The  objection  above  stated  will,  I  think,  require  us  to  con- 
sider, 

I.  Whether  it  can  be  reasonable,  that  our  first  parents  should 
be  permitted  to  be  tempted,  by  any  being  of  a  superior  intel- 
ligence above  themselves,  in  any  manner  whatsoever:  but,  if 
we  determine  this  in  the  negative,  how  greatly  may  we  err, 
not  seeing  sufficiently  into  the  creation  of  God. 

He,  who  through  vast  immensity  can  pierce. 
See  worlds  on  worlds  compose  one  universe  ; 
Observe  how  system  into  system  runs. 
What  other  planets,  and  what  other  suns. 
What  varied  being  peoples  ev'ry  star, 
May  tell  why  Heav'n  made  all  things  as  they  are. 
But  of  this  frame,  the  bearings  and  the  ties. 
The  strong  connections,  nice  dependencies  ; 

PorE, 

the  knowledge  of  them  may  not  lie  within  our  reach ;  and  we 
may  therefore  determine  very  wrong  concerning  much  of  what 
we  can  only  partially  consider  in  forming  our  judgment. 

Respecting  man,  whatever  wrong  we  call. 
May,  must  be  right,  as  relative  to  all. 

Pope. 

The  circle  of  our  own  agency  wonderfully  operating  over 
and  by  the  powers  of  the  creatures  beneath  us,  though,  in  all 
they  do,  they  have  an  intention  of  their  own,  distinct  from 
us,  may  reasonably  argue  to  us,  that, 

When  the  proud  steed  shall  know  why  man  restrains 
His  fiery  course,  or  drives  him  o'er  the  plains ; 
Then  shall  man's  pride  and  dulness  comprehend 
His  action's,  passion's,  being's,  use,  and  end : 
Why  doing,  suff 'ring,  check'd,  impell'd— 

Pope. 

An  analogy  to  one  another  runs  through  the  powers  of  all  in- 
telligences in  creation.     The  universe  is  but  one  whole  in 


154  THE  CREATION  AND  CHAP.  X. 

the  hand  of  God;  we  are  not  independent  principals,  uncon-  ' 
nected  with  others.  Rather,  the  various  spheres  of  action  of 
all  the  innumerable  orders  of  intelligent  spirits,  that  exist 
among  the  works  of  the  supreme  God,  are  to  have,  under  his 
direction  and  control,  their  line,  their  weight  and  measure, 
to  affect  and  be  affected  by  one  another.  And  the  event,  re- 
sulting from  all,  is  to  afford  a  true  judgment  of  all ;  when  all 
the  evil,  which  may  hence  have  come  in,  shall  have  had  its 
course,  and  be  cast  out;  and  the  sum  of  all  be  found  the  great- 
est possible  good,  upon  the  whole,  to  the  Creator's  glory. 

In  human  works,  tlio'  labour'd  on  with  pain, 
A  thousand  movements  scarce  one  purpose  gain ; 
In  Gou's,  cue  single  can  its  end  produce. 
Yet  serves  to  second  too  some  other  use  : 
So  man,  who  here  seems  principal  alone, 
Perhaps,  acts  second  to  some  sphere  unknown  ; 
Touches  some  wheel,  or  verges  to  some  goal; 
'Tis  but  a  part  we  see,  and  not  a  v.hole. 

Pope. 

We  in  nowise  see  the  scene  of  the  demerit  of  apostate  spirib, 
nor  how  far  it  may  be  requisite  they  should  be  permitted  to 
fill  up  their  own  measure,  within  just  and  wise  limitations 
(and  in  such  we  find  the  tempter  of  Eve  greatly  restrained,) 
to  answer  the  great  ends  of  the  infinite  and  eternal  Provi- 
dence. Sin,  indeed,  and  death,  have  thereby  come  into  our 
present  state ;  and  death  must  reign  upon  all,  until  the  state 
we  are  in  be  accomplished ;  but  let  us 

Wait  the  great  teacher.  Death, 

Pope, 

and  we  shall,  in  time,  be  able 

To  look  through  nature  up  to  nature's  God ; 
Pursue  the  chain,  which  links  th'  immense  design. 
Joins  Heav'n  and  Earth,  and  Mortal  and  Divine. 

Pope. 

We  shall  then  see,  beyond  what  we  are  now  able  to  conceive, 
that,  whatever  hath  befallen  us,  all  will  display  a  most  amaz- 
ing height,  and  depth,  and  length,  and  breadth  of  the  wisdom, 
and  power,  and  goodness,  and  glory  of  Him,  who  will  hence 
bring  those,  who  shall  be  meet  to  be  partakers  of  it,^  through 
the  one  man,  whom  he  hath  ordained,  Jesus  Ch'ist;  to  the 
kingdom  prepared  for  man  from  the  foundation  of  the 
world  f-  and  the  wicked,  whether  they  have  been  men  or 
angels,  shall  go  to  their  own  place. 

II.  Ikit  it  may  be  said,  ''  What,  if  it  were  fit,  and  might 
answer  a  great  end,  that  an  intelligent  evil  spirit,  higher  than 
they,  should  be  permitted  to  tempt  our  first  parents:  is  there 
not  a  natural  impropriety   in  supposing,  that  the  particular 


Col.  i,  12.  '  Acts  xvii,  31 ;  Matt,  xxv,  34* 


CHAP.  IX.  FALL  OF  MAN.  155 

access  of  such  a  spirit  to  them  hath  been  as  Moses  describes, 
and  that  the  temptation  hath  been  of  that  sort  which  he  re- 
cords? To  suppose  that  an  intellectual  spirit,  not  visible  to 
our  first  parents,  should  speak  to  them,  not  in  a  voice  that 
might  have  been  thought  his  own,  but  by  the  tongue  of  a 
serpent  seen  by  them ;  and  this  to  persuade  them  to  do  a 
thing  in  itself  neither  good  nor  evil,  to  eat  of  the  fruit  of  a 
tree,  only  because  God  had  forbidden  them  to  eat  of  it;  is 
there  any  thing,  that  appears  natural  in  this  procedure?  Has 
it  the  colour  of  a  rational  endeavour  to  bring  moral  evil  into 
the  world  ?  If  our  adversary,  the  Devil,  had  been  permitted, 
"as  he  is  a  spirit,  to  have  had  a  spiritual  access  to  the  minds  of 
our  first  parents,  to  suggest  to  them  evil  thoughts  and  evil 
desires,  to  fill  them  by  degrees  with  all  uncleanness,  to  bring 
them  to  destruction,  both  of  body  and  soul;  this  would  have 
seemed  a  reasonable  procedure  for  such  a  spirit  of  darkness : 
he  has  for  ages  thus  worked,  and  even  still  luorketh  thus,  in 
the.  children  of  disobedience.^  But,  to  suppose  that  the  Al- 
mighty had  set,  as  it  were,  a  spell  over  our  first  parents,  to 
require  them  not  to  eat  of  a  particular  tree ;  had  determined, 
that,  whilst  they  kept  within  this  injunction,  no  evil  spirit 
should  get  within  them  to  hurt  them ;  but,  if  they  would  be 
seduced  to  break  through  it,  that  neither  they  nor  their  pos- 
terity should  ever  after  be  able  to  be  proof  against  the  evil 
one;  does  this  look  like  the  way  of  supreme  understanding, 
according  to  the  reason  and  nature  of  things,  and  therefore  to 
be  the  way  of  God  with  man  ?"  I  have,  I  think,  given  this 
objection  all  the  strength  of  which  it  is  capable;  at  least  I  am 
sure,  that  I  have  endeavoured  so  to  do.  If  I  could  find  words, 
which  would  express  it  moi-e  advantageously,  I  would  use 
them;  for  I  take  this,  in  reality,  to  be  the  whole  hinge  upon 
which  all  that  is  to  be  said  against  the  religion  of  the  Bible 
can  turn.  Let  us  now  attentively  consider  how  far  we  can 
answer  it. 

Here  the  material  point  to  be  considered  is,  whether  the 
particular  manner  of  the  temptation  objected  to  was  not,  in 
reality,  exactly  suited  to  the  economy,  or  manner  and  mea- 
sure in  which  the  Creator  had  made  man?  God,  the  divine 
workmaster,  must  have  so  ordered  his  dispensations,  as  to  be 
suitable  to  the  measure  and  nature  of  his  works,  for  which 
they  were  designed.  Such  as  he  made  man,  to  such  he  dis- 
pensed, that  he 

Quails  ab  incepto  procedei-et, 

Hon. 

might  have  the  progress  and  procedure  of  his  being  exactly 
suited  to  what  were  his  original  native  powers  and  endow- 
ments.    Had  God  made  man  such  a  being,  that  a  true  and 

^  Eph.  ii,  2. 


156  THE  CREATION  AND  CHAP.  X. 

right  intelligence  of  the  nature  of  things  would,  at  all  times, 
instantly  have  occurred  to  his  mind  to  give  him  a  right  judg- 
ment concerning  them,'*  the  natural  way  of  temptation,  to 
such  a  heing,  might  have  been  to  admit  a  perverted  spirit  to 
try  his  better  judgment,  to  draw  him,  if  he  could,  from  his 
own  right  sentiments  into  evil.  But,  if  God  at  first  made 
man  with  lesser  powers,  such  a  permission  would  have  sub- 
jectefiWfftii  to  an  unequal  conflict  indeed;  for,  however  reasona- 
ble irhiay  appear,  that  the  wicked  one  should  be  permitted  to 
attempt  to  catch  away  that  which  is  sown  in  our  hearts  ;^ 
when  we  need  not  lose  that  which  is  sown,  if  we  be  willing 
to  preserve  it;  it  cannot  follow,  that  it  could  be  fit,  that  he 
should  be  admitted,  before  any  thing  was  sown  in  the  heart 
of  man,  so  to  possess  the  heart,  as  to  make  it  naturally  impos- 
sible, that  any  good  thing  should  find  a  place  in  it.  Had 
God  made  man,  at  first,  such  as  our  rationalists  assert,  left  ab- 
solutely to  the  guidance  of  natural  light,  to  discover  thereby 
the  duties  of  his  life ;  expecting  no  service  from  him,  but  what 
his  own  reason  would  suggest ;  it  would  seem  unnatural,  I 
might  say,  a  contradiction,  to  assert,  that,  before  man  had 
done,  or  even  thought  good  or  evil,  God  should  interpose,  by 
giving  him  a  law,  which  no  reason  of  his  own  could,  without 
God's  interposing,  have  laid  before  him ;  and,  permitting  him 
to  be  tempted  by  the  voice  of  a  serpent  to  break  this  law,  ab- 
solutely to  defeat  all  he  might  otherwise  have  done,  in  pursu- 
ing what  his  natural  powers  would  have  led  him  to  see  to  be 
the  reason,  and  reasonable  conduct  of  his  life.  But  if,  on  the 
contrary,  we  may  afiirm,  from  what  is  written  by  JMoses,  that 
God  did  not  create  man  with  this  beam  of  actual  understand- 
ing, but  gave  him  only  the  information  of  his  senses,  and  u 
capacity  of  mind,  free,  as  not  being  under  an  over-ruling  in- 
stinct, and  yet  not  having  power  to  be  so  perfect,  as  to  want 
no  external  information;  and  that  God  designed,  wherever 
man  should  Avant  it,  to  give  him  this  information,  by  causing 
him  to  hear  his  voice  from  Heaven ;  requiring  him  to  have 
faith  in  him ;  to  believe  and  obey  whatever  he  should  thus 
hear  from  his  Maker;  it  is  absolutely  consistent  with  this 
economy,  that  he  might  give  man,  thus  far,  but  no  farther,  en- 
dowed, such  a  command  as  Moses  mentions,  to  be  to  him 
both  a  sign  of  what  he  was  to  expect  from  God,  for  the  direc- 
tion of  his  life,  and  an  inviolate  standard  and  remembrancer, 
to  pay  unto  God,  in  every  thing  he  should  command,  the  obe- 
dience of  faith.  The  faith  of  man  in  believing  God,  being 
thus  derived  from  hearing,^  it  could  not  be  mectj  that  the 
temptation  to  disobey  should  come  to  him  otherwise  than  by 
hearing;  that,  unless  he  would  choose  to  pervert  himself,  no 


4  si  tales  nos  natura  genuisset,  ut  cam  ipsam  intueri  et  pcrspicere,  eadem- 
que  optima  duce  cursum  vitae  conficere  possemus.    Cic.  Tiisc.  Qujest.  lib,  iii. 
^  Matt,  xiii,  19.  «  Rom.  x,  17. 


CHAP.  X.  FALL  OF  MAN.  157 

other  should  have  a  more  intimate  admittance  to  corrupt  him. 
Now,  if  the  temptation  was  thus  to  come  to  him  only  by 
hearing,  surely  we  must  allow,  that  what  he  heard  from  God, 
and  all  that  he  heard  to  tempt  him  to  disobey  God,  must  ap- 
pear, in  all  the  circumstances  of  both,  to  be  very  sufficiently 
distinguished,  so  as  to  leave  our  first  parents  without  excuse, 
for  not  strictly  adhering  to  obey  the  one  and  reject  the  other. 
Thus  the  whole  apparent  reasonableness,  or  seeming  contra- 
riety to  the  reason  of  things,  in  what  Moses  relates,  taken  to 
be  historically  true,  depends  upon  whether  it  be  fact,  that 
God  did  at  first  create  man  to  guide  his  own  life,  as  himself 
should  devise,  left  absolutely  to  himself  to  find  out  the  reason 
of  those  duties,  which  he  should  investigate  and  practise;  or, 
whether  God  made  man  to  hear  his  voice,  in  order  to  be  di- 
rected by  it;  to  receive  whatever  God  should,  by  external 
revelation,  make  known  to  him ;  to  make  this  the  rule  and 
guide  of  his  actions.  This,  therefore,  is  a  point  so  material, 
and  so  really  the  whole  of  man,  that  I  hope  I  do  not  digress 
from  the  intention  of  my  undertaking,  if  I  now  and  then  re- 
peatedly endeavour  to  prove,  that  this  ought  to  have  been  the 
ruling  principle  of  our  first  parents  in  their  lives. 

But,  it  is  asked,  "  Was  the  prohibition  a  sort  of  spell,  that, 
whilst  our  first  parents  observed  it,  so  preserved  them,  that 
the  evil  one,  although  he  was  a  spirit,  could  not  approach  to 
hurt  them,  nor  they  fall  into  evil,  to  their  undoing;  but  that, 
as  soon  as  they  had  broken  through  this  charm,  they  became 
so  liable  to  all  evil,  both  from  without  and  within,  that  hence- 
forth all  men  would  inevitably  sin,  and  freedom  from  guilt 
would  be  now  no  more?"  I  answer,  the  dressing  up  a  pro- 
position in  terms  of  ridicule  is  not  a  just  and  reasonable  way 
to  discover  what  is  true,  or  detect  what  is  false.^  It  is  raising 
an  inconsiderate  contempt  of  what  ought  to  be  brought  to  the 
bar  of  more  deliberate  examination  to  be  there  approved  or 
rejected,  as  a  right  and  well  weighed  judgment  of  things  may 
appear  for  or  against  it.  Now,  if  instead  of  using  frivolous 
words  upon  the  occasion,  which  prove  nothing,  we  take  the 
point  here  to  be  considered  under  due  inquiry,  we  shall  see, 
that  the  prohibition  given  to  our  first  parents,  as  Moses  re- 
lates it,  was  no  spell  or  charm,  but  what  was  naturally  both 
necessary  and  sufficient  for  them.  Our  fir-^^  parents  were 
made  living  souls;  they  had  outward  percept;-  a  and  inward 
understanding,  but  both  only  in  such  a  degree,  that  if,  in 
using  them,  they  would  admit  the  voice  of  God  to  direct  them, 
wherever  he  should  see  they  wanted  direction ;  hereby  they 
would  be  kept  in  the  hcmd  of  God's  counsel,  so  as  not  to  fall 
into  any  error  to  their  undoing.  Their  knowledge  of  life,  and 
experience  of  their  being,  could  not  yet  show  them  their  mo- 
ral situation:  how  suitable  then  was  it  to  have  some  one  plain 

^  See  Mr.  Brown's  very  excellent" Essav  on  Ridicule. 

Vol.  IV  X  '      . 


158  THE  CREATION  AND  CHAP.  X. 

inhibition  to  teach  them  that  they  were  not  to  do  any  thing 
whatever,  which  God  should  think  fit,  by  his  express  voice, 
to  prohibit?  And  as  God  was  pleased  to  add  hereto  his  ex- 
press command,  enjoining  them  the  duties  of  their  lives;* 
what  could  they  have  wanted  now,  if  they  would  truly  have^ 
made  this  their  wisdom,  this  their  understanding,  to  keep 
and  observe  all  that  the  Lord  their  God  should  declare?  The 
natural  event  of  their  herein  preserving  themselves  could  be 
no  other,  than  that  using  all  the  powers  of  their  own  minds, 
whereinsoever  God  did  not  think  fit  specially  to  interpose, 
but  strictly  conforming  to  whatever  he  directed ;  man,  though 
made  with  lower  powers  of  reason  than  angels,  being  guided 
by  his  Creator,  and  ripening  himself,  might  have  gradually 
advanced  unto  all  truth.  But  when,  instead  of  thus  proceed- 
ing, our  first  parents  deviated  from  obeying  the  voice  of  God, 
to  hearken  to  thp  words  of  a  lower  speaker,  and  to  break  the 
commandment  of  Him,  who  made  them,  because  it  seemed  to 
he  pleasant  to  their  eyes  so  to  do,  and  a  fhiiig  fn  hp  desired 
to  make  them  luise  ;  what  else  did  they  herein,  but  take  them- 
selves out  of  the  hand  of  God's  counsel,  into  the  hands  of 
their  own?  And  what  could  this  possibly  lead  to,  unless  they 
had  been  created  with  greater  actual  knowledge,  or  with  the 
powers  of  a  more  unerring  understanding,  but  to  all  mistake, 
and  by  degrees,  unto  every  evil  work. 

Another  part  of  the  objection  is,  '•'  that,  if  our  first  parents 
had  not  been  tempted  from  without  by  a  deceiver,  they  would 
not  have  broken  the  commandment  of  their  God."  But  we 
see  things  very  superficially  indeed,  if  we  do  not  perceive 
enough  to  apprize  us,  that  if  we  say  this  in  our  heart,  we 
certainly  do  not  inquire  wisely  into  this  matter.  That,  in 
fact,  a  serpent  speaking  in  man's  voice,  occasioned  in  our  first 
parents  (whilst  they  two  were  all  of  mankind  as  yet  in  the 
world)  a  sentiment,  that  what  God  had  prohibited  was  both 
pleasant  and  desirable,  in  the  reason  of  the  thing,  to  be  done, 
to  -inake  them  wise,  is  indeed  true ;  and  that  this  sentiment 
was  too  hard  for  them ;  but  it  can  in  nowise  follow,  that,  had 
it  not  been  thus  incidentally  occasioned,  earlier,  perhapsj  than 
otherwise  they  might  have  thought  of  it,  it  would  never  have 
had  rise  la  the  heart  of  man.  If  we  consider  its  nature,  no 
thought  here  took  hold  of  them,  but  what  is  common  to  man;' 
for  it  has  in  all  ages  been  a  captivating  point  in  human  theory, 
that  what  seems  to  us  contrary  to  what  we  account  wisdom, 
may  not  be  a  real  revelation  from  God.  And,  if  the  breaking 
of  the  commandment  concerning  the  forbidden  tree  had  not 

9  God's  adding  to  the  prohibition  of  not  eating-  of  the  tree,  liis  command 
for  the  relative  duty  of  man  and  wife,  Gen.  ii,  24,  shows  in  w  hat  manner  he 
would  have  been  pleased  to  inform  tlicm,  as  time  and  the  incidents  of  their 
lives  should  require,  in  their  other  moral  duties. 

9  Deut.  iv,  6. 

1  See  Connect,  vol.  iii,  b,  xi,  p.  99. 


CHAP.  X.  FALL  OF  MAN.  159 

happened  until  our  first  parents  had  gradually  formed  their 
hearts  more  deliberately  to  reject  it,  how  do  we  know  but  a 
thought  might  have  been  raised  in  them,  xohich  could  never 
he  changed^  in  the  way  and  manner  in  which  it  must  be  ever 
fit,  that  God  should  govern,  but  not  absolutely  force  the 
moral  world.  Or,  had  it  not  taken  effect  until  the  sons  of 
men  were  many,  until  mankind  were  multiplied  upon  the 
Earth,  can  we  say,  whether  the  fall  of  mankind  would,  in  the 
measure  and  manner  of  it,  have  been  so  suited  to  the  great 
and  deep  purpose  in  the  hidden  counsel  of  God,  to  bring  man 
out  of  all  his  evil  to  salvation  at  last?^  The  nature  of  virtue 
or  vice  in  moral  agents  must  require,  that  it  be  really  in  our 
own  choice,  to  do  the  one  or  the  other ;  but  the  times  and 
seasons,  when  the  incidents  shall  happen,  that  may  give  us 
an  opportunity  of  standing  or  falling  by  our  own  choice,  are 
best  left  unto  God,  to  have  them  ministered  to  us  as  he  sees 
to  be  most  proper.  The  Jews  were  permitted  to  complete 
our  Saviour's  death,  whilst  yet  they  protested,  that,  if  he 
would  have  come  down  from  the  cross,  they  would  have  be- 
lieved in  him.**  Whether  they  really  would  or  not,  we  cannot 
say;  but,  if  God  knew  they  would  not,  it  was  a  mercy  to 
them,  that  he  let  their  transgression  be  finished,  whilst  yet  it 
might  be  prayed  for.*  That  mankind  would  not  so  govern 
that  spark  of  reason,  wherewith  God  had  endowed  them,  as 
not  through  it  to  break  away  from  that  dependance,  which 
they  ought  to  have  on  him,  was  undoubtedly  foreseen  by  God 
before  the  worlds  were  ;  which,  duly  considered,  will  sug- 
gest a  thought  to  us,  that,  if  we  could  be  admitted  to  see  the 
whole  counsel  of  God,  we  might  find,  that  in  permitting  sin 
and  death  to  come  by  one  man  into  the  world,  as  related  by 
Moses,  he  best  knew  how  to  link  and  connect  his  design  of 
bringing  mankind  unto  salvation  by  the  obedience  of  one. 

But  there  remains  one  suggestion  more,  which  I  think  a 
few  observations  may  very  clearly  refute.  It  will  be  said, 
*'  What  if  our  first  parents  did  break  this  positive  command, 
concerning  the  tree,  of  which  no  reason  could  tell  them  it 
was  intrinsically  good  or  evil ;  will  it  follow,  that  they  there- 
fore would  have  disobeyed  God  in  any  one  moral  law,  which 
he  would  have  been  pleased  to  make  known  to  them?"  Al- 
though Adam  and  Eve  did  not  keep  inviolate  the  observance, 
not  to  eat  of  the  tree;  we  do  not  see  that  they  proceeded,  or 
had  any  desire  to  think  of  breaking  the  law  concerning  man 
and  wife,  which  God  declared  to  them  f  might  they  not  have 
been  as  punctual  in  observing  every  moral  law  for  the  duties 
of  life,  whenever  such  law  should  have  been  made  known  to 
them?  I  answer,  we  may  judge  very  rashly  in  this  great 
matter ;  and,  in  all  we  thus  say  of  it,  only  darken  the  coun- 

2  Wisdom  xii,  10.  ••'  See  Eph.  i,  4—12;  iii,  11 :  Rom.  v,  12—19. 

•*  Matt,  xxvii,  42.  &  Luke  xxui,  34.  ^  Gen.  ii,  24,  ut  sup- 


160  THE  CREATION  AND  CHAP.  X. 

sels  of  the  Most  High,  hy  words  without  hnowhdgt."'  The 
Israelites,  I  question  not,  believed,  that  both  they  and  their 
posterity  would  keep  their  solemn  resolution^  to  serve  their 
own  God,  and  not  be  corrupted  to  go  after  the  idols  of  Canaan ; 
although  they  did  not  so  strictl;^  expel  the  Canaanites  out  of 
their  land,  as  God  had  commanded  them  ;^  but  the  event  soon 
showed,  that  their  imagination  was  only  vain.  God,  who 
sees  into  us,  and  sees  through  us,  knows  best  what  observances, 
may  be  necessary  to  exercise  us  to  our  duties ;  and  could  best 
judge,  whether,  whenever  our  first  parents  would  go  beyond 
the  restraint  he  had  prescribed  them,  they  would  not  therein 
cherish  a  thought  which  would  naturally  fill  apace  every  mea- 
sure of  error,  and  heap  it  up,  to  run  over  into  their  bosom. 
The  principle  intended  to  be  established  by  the  command 
concerning  the  tree,  was,  as  I  have  said,  that  our  first  parents, 
having  no  actual  science  of  life,  should  proceed  in  the  hand, 
under  the  direction  of  God's  counsel,  to  make  it  their  ivisdom 
and  understanding,  strictly  to  practise  whatsoever  God 
should  enjoin  them.  And  the  consequence  of  rejecting  to  be 
under  this  direction,  to  follow,  instead  thereof,  what  seemed 
agreeable  in  their  own  eyes,  and  desirable  in  their  own  judg- 
ment ;  migjat  naturally  plant  in  them  the  root,  from  whence 
all  tiiese  shoots  have  sprung,  which  have  been  the  great  per- 
versioil  of  human  life.  This  being  duly  considered,  must  lead 
us,  not  to  think  of  the  positive  command  given  our  first  pa- 
rents as  a  thing  indiflerent,  or  of  no  real  moment;  rather, 
to  use  the  words  of  St.  Paul,  as  equally  applicable  to  this  the 
Leginning  of  revealed  religion,  as  to  the  end  and  completion 
of  it.  God,  in  giving  our  first  parents  the  law  of  the  pro- 
hibited tree,  abounded  towards  them  in  all  wisdotn  and 
prudence  :^  to  give  them,  such  creatures  as  he  had  made  them, 
a  law,  which,  observed  as  it  ought,  would,  in  its  natural 
event,  have  been  their  life  and  salvation. 

We  may  speculate  at  random  as  we  please  upon  the  subject; 
hut,  if  fact  is  at  all  to  guide  us,  we  must  observe,  this  begin- 
ning of  error  being  once  admitted,  notwithstanding  God's 
immediately  proceeding  to  denounce  and  ascertain  the  terrible 
punishment  he  had  declared  should  be  the  wages  of  it ;  yet 
the  error  itself  did  not  cease,  although  it  could  not  be  again 
committed  in  the  same  fact,  which  was  Adam's  transgression; 
but  rather  grew  luxuriant,  and  abounded  in  the  world.  Wc 
read  of  one  person  in  the  first  world,  who  most  eminently 
walked  with  God,'-  in  the  obedience  of  faith  ;  Enoch  herein 
so  pleased  God,  as  to  be  translated?  There  were  others, 
who  were  found  faithful  in  their  generations,  in  what  had 
been  revealed  to  them;^  but,  in  general,  the  principle  of  doing 

"  Job  xxxvlli,  2.  *  Joshua  xxiv,  21 — 25. 

f>  See  Judges  i;  Numb,  xxxiii,  52,  55.  '  Epli.  i,  8. 

2  Gen.  V,  22.  »  Ileb.  xi,  5. 
«  fieti.  V ;  Ecclus.  xliv  ;  Ileb.  xi. 


CHAP.  X.     ,  FALL  OF  MAN.  161 

what  seemed  right  in  their  own  eyes,  appears  to  have  so 
greatly  prevailed,  that  Lamech,  a  descendant  from  Cain,  some 
centuries  before  Adam  died,*  thought  so  differently  from  what 
God  had  most  expressly  commanded,  concerning  man  and 
wife,*^  that  he  introduced  polygamy^  And  the  world  in 
general,  in  little  more  than  the  then  age,  and  half  an  age  of 
man,  %-as  become  so  corrupt,  in  man's  departing  from  God" 
and  his  laws,^  to  follow  the  imaginations  of  their  own  hearts,^ 
that,  to  preserve  right  and  truth  from  perishing  from  off  the 
face  of  the  Earth,  it  became  the  wisdom  of  God,  eight  per- 
sons only  excepted,  to  destroy  the  world. 

^  Lamech  was  grandson  of  Cain  :  perhaps  not  born  later  than  Enos,  the  son 
of  Seth  :  and,  if  so  early,  was  born  almost  seven  hundred  years  before  Adam 
died.  See  tlie  tables  of  the  lives  of  the  antediluvian  fathers,  Connect,  vol.  i, 
book  i,  p.  57,  58. 

6  Gen.  ii,  24.  7  Chap,  iv,  19. 

8  The  life  of  man,  at  this  time,  was  about  nine  hundred  years.    See  Gen.  v. 

3  Gen.  V,  5  ;  Job,  xxii,  17. 


CHAPTER  XI. 


The  immediate  Consequences  of  our  first  Parentis  eat- 
ing of  the  forbidden  Tree:  and  the  Sentence  which 
God  passed  upon  the  Serpent,  on  account  of  their 
Transgression. 

NO  sooner  had  our  first  parents  eaten  of  the  tree  forbidden 
them,  but  we  are  told  their  eyes  ivere  opened,  and  they  knew 
they  were  naked}  We  must  here  ask,  what  sentiments  could 
our  first  parents  receive  from  what  they  had  done,  to  affect 
them  in  this  manner?  And  it  is  amazing  how  many  writers 
have  most  absurdly  trifled  upon  this  topic.^ 

If  we  would  know  truly  what  Moses  here  intended,  we 
must  carefully  attend  to  what  he  himself  has  expressed. 
And  here  let  us  observe,  that  Moses  does  not  say,  that  what 
the  serpent  had  promised  our  first  parents  was  fulfilled  to 
them;  they  understood  the  serpent  as  telling  them  that  some 
great  advantage  of  sight  would  be  given  them  ;^  but  the  event 
certainly  did  not  answer  their  expectations.  The  serpent  had 
said  unto  them,  your  eyes  shall  he  opened :  Moses  observes, 
that  their  eyes  were  opened ;  so  indeed  they  were,  according 
to  a  true  meaning  of  Moses's  expression,  though  not  at  all  ac- 
cording to  what  they  hoped  for.  A  fact,  related  by  a  heathen 
historian,  may  show  us  the  manner  of  speaking  here  majde 
use  of  by  Moses,  in  the  case  of  our  first  parents. 

When  the  Lacedemonians  consulted  the  oracle  at  Delphos, 
whether  they  should  make  war  upon  the  Arcadians;  Hero- 
dotus tells  us,  that  the  oracle  answered  them, 

1  Gen.  Hi,  7. 

2  Videtur  ingenerasse,  nescio  quo  succo,  vel  qua  alia  virtiite,  novos  sensus 
pudoris  et  modestiae,  vel  nuditatis  ut  dicitur;  quasi  nullum  pudorem  habuis- 
sent  in  rebus  venereis  ante  lapsum,  hodie  tamen  in  rebus  istiusmodi  innocuos 
maxime  comitatur  pudor.    Burnet.  Archsol.  p.  292. 

2  Vide  qux  sup. 


164  THE  CREATION  AND  CHAP.  XI, 

Kat  xaXov  «i6vov  (j;t;on'9  Siafirjtprjaaa^ai. 

That  he  would  give  them  to  march  over  the  country  of  the 
Tegeans,  and  to  measure  its  fair  plains  with  a  line."  The  La- 
cedaemonians expected  that  they  should  over-run  and  abso- 
lutely conquer  Tegea,  and  divide  and  set  out  their  lots  in  that 
country  as  they  pleased.  But  the  event  w^as,  that  the  Lace- 
daemonians were  beaten  and  taken  prisoners  by  the  Tegeans ; 
and  were  employed  by  them  as  their  slaves,  to  measure  their 
lands,  and  to  labour  in  them;  and,  says  the  historian,  mea- 
sured with  a  line  the  Tegean  plains;  a  remark  severe,  but 
true  in  fact,  though  not  in  the  manner  it  had  been  expected. 
And  this  was  Moses's  observation  upon  our  first  parents; 
their  eyes  were  indeed  opened,  in  a  true  sense  of  Moses's  ex- 
pression; but  in  a  manner  very  different  from  what  they  had 
conceived  would  have  befallen  them. 

What  Moses  here  intended  to  say  was  the  real  event,  which 
happened  to  our  first  parents,  must  be  gathered  from  the  use 
he  makes  elsewhere  of  the  expression,  eyes  behig  opened. 
We  find  it  remarkably  used  in  the  case  of  Hagar,  in  the  wil- 
derness of  Beersheba;^  who  had  wandered  there  with  her  son 
Ishmael.^'  The  water  she  had  brought  with  her  in  a  bottle 
was  all  spent,  and  both  she  and  her  child,  with  her,  were  in 
danger  of  perishing  for  want  of  a  supply.  But  Moses  tells  us, 
the  Lord  opened  her  eyes,  and  she  saw  a  well?  We  are  not 
to  suppose  a  miracle  here  done ;  the  well  is  not  said  to  have 
been  created  at  this  time;  for,  undoubtedly,  it  was  in  the  same 
place  before  she  saw  it,  as  it  was  afterwards ;  and  her  eyes 
might  be,  in  reality,  as  open,  before  she  saw  the  well,  as  when 
she  espied  it.  But  she  now  turned  her  eyes  to  the  place 
where  the  well  was,  and  saw  what  before  she  had  not  ob- 
served ;  and  this,  in  Moses's  expression,  was  having  her  eyes 
opened.  In  this  sense,  likewise,  Moses  writes  it  of  our  first 
parents ;  after  eating  of  the  tree,  their  eyes  icere  opened ;  they 
saw  a  circumstance  of  their  condition,  which,  before,  they  had 
not  remarked,  and  which  led  them  to  a  thought,  as  new  to 
them,  they  knew  that  they  were  nakedJ" 

The  question  now  is,  in  what  sense  did  they  know  them- 
selves to  be  naked?  -And  here,  both  later  commentators,  and 
many  ancient  and  grave  writers,  have,  as  I  above  hinted,  im- 
modestly trifled.  It  is  generally  thought,  that  nakedness  now 
first  became  a  shame;  but  Moses  in  nowise  gives  any  such  in- 
timation: he  tells  us  of  a  very  different  passion  here  raised  by 
it;  it  gave  them  fear.  Adam  was  not  ashamed,  but  afraid,'^ 
because  he  was  naked,  and  therefore  hid  himself;  and  it  is 
obvious  to  see  the  just  reason  he  had  for  this  serfse  of  his  con- 


*  HerodotUb.  i,  c.  66  s  Gen.  xxi.  «  Ver.  14. 

■  Ver.  19.  «  Chap,  iii,  7.  ^  Ver.  10. 


CHAP.  XI.  FALL  OF  MAX.  165 

dition.  The  word,  which  we  render  naked,  has,  indeed,  in 
general,  this,  its  most  obvious  signification  ;  but  it  is  used  in 
other  senses,  by  a  sort  of  metaphor,  in  many  places  of  Scrip- 
ture; and,  in  the  place  before  us  particularly,  we  ought  to  take 
it  as  it  is  used  in  the  Book  of  Job.  Hell,  says  that  writer,  is 
{narom)  naked  before  him,  and  destruction  has  no  cover- 
ing :^  i.  e.  Hell  and  destruction  lie  open,  not  concealed  from 
the  eye,  nor  in  any  way  covered  from  the  vengeance  of  God. 
This  sense  of  the  place  is  just  and  elegant,  free  from  the 
shameful  fooleries,  which  writers,  not  carefully  considering, 
have  ingrafted  upon  it.  Adam  and  Eve  had  taken  upon  them, 
not  to  rest  satisfied  in  what  God  had  commanded;  but  to  be- 
gin to  think  for  themselves,  contrary  to  what  He  had  said  to 
them.  And  their  thoughts  taking  this  turn,  one  sentiment 
brought  on  another;  they  were  now  to  be  wise  for  them- 
selves, without,  nay  against,  their  Maker.  Now,  how  natural 
was  it  for  them,  going  in  the  paths  of  this  theory,  to  be  re- 
minded, and  consider  how  to  guard  against  Him,  who  had  se- 
verely threatened  what  they  had  committed  ?  Alas !  their 
eyes  now  told  them  they  had  no  covering;  neither  could  they 
think  how  to  find  a  shelter,  which  might  protect  them.  How- 
ever, they  attempted  to  do  the  best  they  could ;  thei/  seived 
Jig  leaves  together,  and  made  themselves  aprons.^ 

They  made  themselves  aprons.  Here  again  Moses  is  sup- 
posed to  say,  what  no  one  would  have  thought  of,  unless  he 
imagined  that  our  parents  had  reasons  of  shame  to  cover  some 
particular  parts  of  their  bodies.  But  Moses  hints  nothing 
like  it:  his  words  are,  vagithperu  naleh  teenah,  vejanashu 
lehem  chaggoroth?  We  may  observe,  that  the  word,  which 
we  render  leaves,  is,  in  the  text,  not  plural,  but  singular;  and, 
I  apprehend,  that  both  here,  and  in  some  other  places  of 
Scripture,  it  should  be  rendered,  not  leaves,  but  a  foliature^ 
or  intertwining  of  leaves,  and  that  tlie  whole  paragraph 
should  be  thus  translated :  they  wreathed  together  a  foliature 
of  the  fig  tree,  and  made  themselves  enwrapments;  i.  e.  they 
wrapped  themselves  up  in  them.  What  they  wanted  was  to 
hide  themselves  from  God.  An  apron,  or  a  cincture  about 
their  waists,  would  in  nowise  answer  this  purpose;  therefore 
they  could  have  no  thought  of  so  partial  a  covering;  but  the 
casing  themselves  up  within  boughs  full  of  leaves,  to  look  like 
trees,  and  thereby  to  escape  his  observation, — this  might  be  a 

"  Job  xxvi,  6.  2  Gen.  iii,  7. 

Vestimenta  circumligata        sibi  et  fecerunt  ficus  foliuturam  insuerunt 

i.  e.  intexuenint. 
As  the  text  may  be  thus  construed,  Dr.  Burnet's  low  ridicule  of  the  beirinning' 
of  the  art  of  a  seamstress,  of  their  having  neither  thread  nor  needle,  is  without 
foundation.  "En!"  says  he,  "  primordia  artis  sutorijc :  sed  unde  illis  acus, 
unde  filum  ?"  Archxol.  p.  293.  There  was  no  want  of  any  instruments  to 
try  to  entwine  tender  boughs  into  one  another,  and  it  must  seem  a  very  natural 
thought  for  them  to  attempt  a  work  of  this  nature. 

Vor..  IV,  Y 


166  THE  CREATION  AND  CHAP.  XI. 

sentiment  not  too  weak  for  a  first  thought  of  persons,  who. 
when  they  found  their  investments  inconvenient  or  insuffi- 
cient, were  still  so  ignorant  and  foolish  be/ore  God,  as  to 
conceive,  that  they  might  possibly  be  hidden  from  Him  be- 
hind the  trees  of  the  garden. 

What  Moses  therefore  relates,  thus  explained,  is  highly  na- 
tural; they  had  broken  the  commandment  of  the  Lord  their 
God;  and  now  it  came  into  their  mind,  how  shall  we  escape 
his  observation?  Will  he  not  soon  see  us?  and  when  he  sees 
us,  will  he  not  punish?  Every  thought  about  themselves  now 
was  a  new  terror;  their  eyes  were  opened,  and  they  saw  they 
had  no  covering;  their  hearts  were  alarmed,  they  considered 
they  had  nothing  wherewith  they  might  protect  themselves 
against  him;  whither  now  could  they  fly  from  his  presence? 
or  what  should  they  do  to  ward  off  his  displeasure?  Had 
they  now  known  the  world,  and  the  hiding  places  which  are 
therein,  they  would  have  gone  into  the  dens  and  rocks  of  the 
mountains,  and  said  to  the  mountains  and  rocks,  fall  on 
us,  and  hide  us  from  the  face  of  Him,  and  from  his  wrath  to 
come.'*  But  they  had,  as  yet,  been  little  farther  than  the  com- 
pass of  their  garden,  and  knew  of  no  thicker  cover  than  the 
leaves  and  shelter  of  their  trees ;  with  some  of  these,  there- 
fore, they  tried  to  wrap  up  and  disguise  themselves,  as  well 
as  they  could;  and  herein  they  seemed  to  amuse  themselves, 
until  towards  the  evening  of  the  day:  they  then  heard  the 
voice  of  God  moving  from  one  part  of  the  garden  to  the 
other;*  which  struck  them  with  fresh  confusion.  Their  fears 
came  now  upon  them  like  an  armed  man;  they  were  not  able 
to  abide  in  the  way  of  the  voice  of  God,  but  gat  themselves 
into  the  closest  thicket  of  trees  they  could  find,  and  here  they 
hoped  to  lie  hid.  But  the  voice  of  God,  calling  now  more 
peremptorily,  Adain,  where  art  thou  ?  darted  terrors  quite 
through  him;  he  could  no  longer  think  that  he  was  concealed, 
but  came  forth,  confessing,  that  he  ivas  afraid  because  he  was 
naked,  and  had  therefore  hid  himself^  The  transaction  is  a 
most  natural  progress  of  conscious  guilt;  and  the  words,  which 
Adam  now  spake,  are  as  natural,  and  a  deep  humiliation  of 
himself  before  God.  They  are,  as  if  he  had  said,  I  was  afraid, 
and  hid  myself;  but  I  see  I  am  naked,  I  have  no  cover  from 
thine  eye;  I  know  also  that  I  am  farther  naked,  unarmed 
against,  having  nothing  to  oppose  to,  or  protect  me  from  thy 
power;  I  submit.  Lord,  do  unto  me  as  thou  wilt. 

It  is  very  obvious  to  remark,  how  our  translators  and  com- 
mentators came  to  have  a  notion  of  Adam  and  Eve's  shame 
for  their  nakedness.  In  the  last  verse  of  the  second  chapter 
of  Genesis  we  have  this  observation,  tliat,  they  xcere  both 
naked,  the  man  and  his  tvife,  and  were  not  ashamed.  It 
being  here  observed,  that  no  shame  attended  their  being  naked 

*  Rev.  vi,  16.  5  Gen.  iii,  8— 10.  '   Ver.  10. 


CHAP.  XI.  FALL  OF  MAN.  167 

before  they  ate  of  the  tree,  it  was  concluded  that  a  shame  of 
being  naked  entered  with  sin  into  the  world.  But  1  would, 
hereupon,  offer  to  the  reader's  consideration, 

1.  That  what  is  expressed  in  this  25th  verse  of  the  second 
chapter  of  Genesis,  is  an  observation  that  has  no  manner  of 
reference  to,  or  connection  with,  any  thing  before  said,  which 
might  give  occasion  for  it ;  nor  does  it  any  way  lead  to  intro- 
duce what  follows  in  beginning  the  next  chapter.  It  seems, 
in  its  obvious  sense,  quite  an  independent  remark,  which 
might  indeed  be  made  by  any  one  who  considered,  that  at 
that  time  they  were  not  clothed,  but  had  mankind  never  worn 
clothes  at  all,  nothing  was  yet  said  which  could  have  occa- 
sioned such  an  observation.  Every  thing,  which  Moses  had 
related,  or  proceeded  to  relate,  would  have  been  as  full  and 
complete  without  it  as  with  it. 

2,  There  are  several  observations  of  this  sort,  in  many 
parts  of  the  Old  Testament,  and  in  the  Book  of  Genesis  par- 
ticularly, which  the  learned  agree  were  not  originally  in  the 
text ;  but  were  hints  written^  in  the  margin  of  ancient  copies, 
as  observations  from,  or  upon,  the  text ;  and  that  transcribers 
from  these  copies,  not  carefully  distinguishing,  took  them 
into  the  text;  that  such  transcribers,  not  being  modern,  but 
more  ancient  than  any  printed  copies,  or,  indeed,  any  manu- 
script Bibles  now  extant,  perhaps  we  have  now  no  copies 
without  some  of  these  insertions  in  the  text.  If,  indeed,  the 
meaning  of  the  verse  we  are  treating  was,  that  Adam  and 
Eve  were  not  ashamed  at  their  wearing  no  clothing,  and  I 
could  have  any  warrant  from  any  one  copy  to  omit  it,  I  should 
be  inclined  to  think  it  an  insertion  of  this  nature. 

3.  But  I  apprehend  the  truth  is,  that  this  verse  was  not  in- 
tended at  all  to  speak  of  their  being  naked,  in  respect  to 
clothing.  As  the  word  naked  has  metaphorical  senses  in  some 
passages  of  the  Old  Testament,  so  also  has  the  word,  which 
we  here  translate  ashamed.^  It  is  far  from  signifying,  in  all 
places,  being  affected  with  what  we  call  the  passion  of  shame ; 
it  often  means,  being  confounded  or  destroyed.  The  word 
here  used  is  a  termination  of  the  verb  buosh  (ts'n,)  and  this 
is  the  verb  used  by  Isaiah,  where,  recollecting  how  God  had 
destroyed  the  kings  of  Canaan  before  the  Israelites,  and  laid 
waste  their  fenced  cities  into  ruinous  heajjs,  he  tells  us,  that 
their  inhabitants  were  of  small  jwwer  ;  they  were  dismay ed 
iyay\,  veboshu.)  He  does  not  here  mean  that  they  literally 
had  the  passion  of  shame  affecting  them,  but  were  confounded; 
were,  as  he  proceeds,  as  the  grass  of  the  field,  and  as  the 
^reen  herb,  as  the  grass  on  the  house-tops,  and  as  corn 

'  See  Frideaux's  Connect,  part  i,  b.  v;  Connect.  Sacr.  and  Prof.  History, 
vol.  ii,  b.  vii,  p.  150;  vol.  iii,  b.  xii,  p.  260. 
»  The  Hebrew  text  is,  vj-can''  nS. 


168  THE  CREATION  AND        CHAP.  XI. 

blasted  before  it  be  grown  up?  And  this  was^Moscs's  mean- 
ing in  the  word  here  used  ;  a  meaning  of  it  perfectl)^  coin- 
ciding with  what  afterwards  appeared  to  be  his  sentiment  of 
man's  standing  personally  to  hear  the  voice  of  God.  JNIoses, 
elsewhere,  speaks  of  it  as  being  no  ordinary  mercy,  that  a 
man  should  hear  the  voice  of  God  and  live  ;^  therefore  he 
might  here  leave  us  this  observation,  concerning  our  first  pa- 
rents; that  God  spake  to  them,  and  that,  although  they  stood 
naked  before  him,  i.  e.  in  his  more  immediate  presence,  under 
no  covert,  nigh  to  him,  to  hear  the  voice  of  his  word  talking 
to  them,  they  experienced  what  Moses  always  reputed  a  very- 
extraordinary  thing,  that  God  did  talk  with  man,  and  they 
were  not  confounded,  but  lived.^ 

Thus  far  we  have  no  difficulty :  we  are  noAv  to  consider 
what  the  voice  of  God  said  to  Adam  upon  his  confessing  him- 
self thus  naked  before  him.  And  he  (i.  e.  God)  said,  luho 
told  thee  that  thou  wast  naked  ?  Hast  thou  eaten  of  the 
tree  whereof  I  commanded  thee  that  thou  shouldest  not 
eat  P  The  words  point  very  clearly  to  what  I  have  explained 
to  be  the  meaning  of  Adam's  thinking  himself  naked.  Had 
Adam  intended  by  that  expression,  that  he  was  ashamed  to 
appear  before  God,  upon  account  of  his  having  no  clothes, 
here  would  have  been  something  said  hugely  trifling,  and  no 
way  pertinent  to  any  circumstance  of  his  condition  ;  but  take 
him  to  mean  by  naked,  not  covered  from  the  sight  of  God, 
and  without  any  defence  or  protection  against  his  power ;  and 
the  reply  from  God  here  is,  as  if  he  had  said,  You  say  you 
are  without  cover  from,  and  without  defence  against  me : 
have  you  never  been  so  before  me  until  now?  Have  you 
hitherto  wanted  any  cover  or  defence  ?  Who  tells  you,  that 
you  now  want  them  ?  I  never  threatened  you,  but  for  one 
thing ;  art  thou  afraid  ?  Hast  thou  done  that  one  thing,  to  be 
afraid  of  me?  Tiiis  now  speaks  itself  to  be  the  reason  and  ex- 
planation of  what  God  was  pleased  to  say  to  Adam,  and  refers 
evidently  to  what  Adam  had  done  to  occasion  this  being  said 
to  him.  Adam  hereupon  denied  not,  but  confessed  his  guilt; 
the  ivomun,  said  he,  whom  thou  gavest  me,  she  gave  me  of 
the  tree,  and  I  did  eat^  The  woman  being  interrogated, 
answered  without  evasion,  the  serpent  beguiled  me,  and  I 
did  eat.^  All  this,  I  think,  can  want  no  comment ;  we  may 
therefore  proceed  to  examine  the  sentence,  which  God  here- 
upon passed  upon  the  offenders. 

And  here  we  read,  that  the  Lord  God  said  unto  the  ser- 
pent:  because  thou  hast  done  this,  thou  art  cursed  above 
all  cattle,  and  above  every  beast  of  the  field:  upon  thjj 
belly  shall  thou  go,  and  dust  shall  thou  eat  all  the  days 


«  2  Kings  xix,  26;  Isaiah  xsxvii,  26.  '  Deut.  iv,  33. 

■!  Chap.  V,  24.  3  Gen.  iiij  U. 

*  Ver.  12.  5  v'er.  13. 


CHAP.  XI.  FALL  OF  MAN.  169 

of  tJty  lifeJ^  The  objectors,  hereupon,  ask, — "  Shall  we  say, 
that  the  nature  of  the  serpent  was  now  changed  ?  that  before 
the  serpent  had  done  what  he  is  here  made  criminal  for,  he 
was  an  animal  that  walked  upright,''  and  moved  in  a  manner 
very  different  from  what  he  now  moves  in  ?  Were  his  whole 
make  and  shape,  and  powers  of  moving,  upon  the  sentence 
now  passed  upon  him,  totally  altered  ?  If  they  were  not,  he 
was,  before  this  sentence,  just  the  same  reptile,  as  he  was 
after  it;  and  if  so,  then  no  punishment  was  inflicted.  If  we 
say,  God  changed  his  make  and  form,  and  degraded  him  to 
a  low  reptile  for  the  mischief  he  had  done;  how  can  this  be?^ 
For,  where  there  was  no  fault,  how  should  God  punish  ?" 
If,  as  I  have  observed,  the  words,  which  came  to  Eve,  from 
the  mouth  of  the  serpent,  were,  in  reality,  not  the  serpent's 
words ;  were  words  he  in  nowise  intended,  nor  had  any  sense 
of,  or  meaning  in  them,^  wherein  could  the  serpent  be  cri- 
minal? and,  if  he  was  not  criminal,  why  should  he  be  so 
execrated  and  degraded?  They,  who  oppose  our  understand- 
ing Moses  in  a  literal  sense,  seem  here  to  triumph  ;  and  I 
cannot  say,  that  those  who  answer  them,  do  speak  so  clearly 
as  might  be  wished  in  this  particular.  The  true  fact,  in  what 
had  been  done,  undoubtedly  was,  that  the  serpent  had  been 
no  moral  agent  in  the  affair,  had  really  done  nothing ;  for  he 
was  only  a  mere  tool,  an  instrument  in  the  use  of  an  invisible 
agent;  and  therefore  cannot  be  thought  either  accountable, or 
deserving  to  be  punished,  for  any  thing  which  had  happened  ; 
so  that  we  ought  carefully  to  examine  the  words  of  Moses, 
whether  he  says  any  thing  which  intimates  that  God  had 
really  called  the  serpent  here  to  an  account,  or  inflicted  any 
punishment  upon  him. 

It  is,  indeed,  observable,  that  not  only  our  English,  but  all 
versions  of  the  text  of  Moses,  render  the  place,  as  if  great 
guilt  was  imputed  to  the  serpent,  and  punishment  thereupon 
denounced  against  him;  but  if  the  reader  be  apprised  how  the 
Hebrew  particle  o  (ki,)  in  the  text,  which  we  translate,  be- 
cause, ought  to  have  been  rendered,  not  because,  but  al- 
though;  the  passage  will  appear  to  have  a  different  meaning.* 

The  words  used  by  Moses  are,  ki  nashitha,  zaoth  f  we 

^  Gen.  iii,  14.  '  Vide  Criticos  in  lor.;  Rivet,  exercit.  in  Gen. 

s  De  poena  serpentis  non  levis  est  quaestio:  si  diabolus  rem  totam  egit  sub 
.specie  serpentis;  vel  si  coegit  serpenlem,  ut  ea  ageret  vel  pateretur;  quid 
serpens  luit  pccnas  criminis  a  diabolo  commissi  ?  Dein  quoad  modum  et  for- 
mam  pocnx  in  serpentem  irrogalse,  nempe  quod  in  posterum  pronus  iret  in 
ventrem,  quid  hoc  sibi  velit  non  est  facile  explicatu :  erectum  antea  fuisse 
serpentem,  aut  quadrupedum  more  incessisse  xgre  quis  dixerit.  Quod  si  vero 
ferebatur  pronus  in  ventrem  ab  initio,  ut  hodierni  angues,  ineptum  videripossit 
id  pro  supplicio,  et  in  poenam  singularis  t'acti,  huic  animali  imponi  aut  attribui, 
quod  semper  et  a  natura  habuit.    Burnet.  Archsol.  p.  291. 

s  Vide  qux  sup. 

1  The  Arabic  version  seems  to  specify,  that  the  serpent  designedly  beguiled 
Eve;  cum  feceris  hoc  scienter^  in  the  Latin  version  of  the  place.  But  how 
groundless  is  this  fancy  r  2  rij<t  n^B'y  >2 


170  THE  CUEATION  AND        CHAP.  XI. 

render  them,  because  thou  hast  done  this:  the  particle  ki 
has  often  this  signification,  and  possibly  may  be  thus  taken, 
where  Adam  is  spoken  to, in  the  17th  verse  (ki  shamanta,)^ 
because  thou  hast  hearkened  unto  the  voice  of  thy  ivife. — 
But  it  must  be  rendered  otherwise  in  other  places.  In  Genesis 
viii,  21,  The  Lord  God  said,  I  ivill  not  curse  the  gj'oimd 
any  more  for  man's  sake;  for  (ki,)  the  imagination  of 
77ian\s  heart  is  evil  from  his  youth.  Had  we  here  rendered 
the  particle  ki,  because,  we  had  darkened  the  sense  extremely; 
and  the  translating  it  for,  does  not  entirely  clear  it.  The 
words  truly  rendered  are  as  follow:  /  ivill  not  curse  the 
ground  any  more — although  the  imagination  of  man''s 
heart  is  evil : — This  is  the  true  meaning  of  the  words:  God 
was  pleased  to  determine,  not  to  curse  the  ground  any  more, 
although  the  wickedness  of  man  was  such  as  deserved  its 
being  again  cursed.  Thus  again,  in  anotlier  place:  Israel 
stretched  out  his  right  hand,  and  laid  it  upon  Ephraim's 
Jicad,  who  tvas  the  younger,  but  he  laid  his  left  hand  upon 
Manasseh's  Iiead ;  ki,  we  say,  for  Manassch  ivas  first  born.^ 
Surely  the  reason  intimated  is  a  little  confused:  but  if  we  had 
rendered  the  words,  although  Manasseh  z^;a5  the  first  born, 
the  expression  would  be  just  and  significant.  And  thus  in 
Psalm  XXV,  Pardon  m,y  iniquity,  ki,  we  say,ybr  it  is  great ;' 
l^t  we  should  better  express  the  Psalmist's  meaning,  if  we 
tr^^nslated  it,  although  it  is  great.  Our  version  has,  in  one 
place,  given  the  particle  this  its  true  meaning:  God  led  them 
not  through  the  land  of  the  Philistines ;  we  here  render  the 
particle  A-?',  justly,  although  it  tvas  near.^ 

And  thus  the  verse  concerning  the  serpent  ought  to  have 
been  translated:  Jind  the  Lord  God  said  unto  the  serpent, 
A-LTHOvon-  thou  hast  done  this,  thou  art  cuj-sed  above  all 
cattle,  a7id  above  every  beast  of  the  field;  upon  thy  belly 
shall  thou  go,  and  dust  shall  thou  cat  all  the  days  of  thy 
life.  The  words  in  nowise  imply,  that  a  change  of  the  nature 
of  the  serpent  was  now  inflicted  on  him;  he  remained  the 
same  animal  as  he  was  created.  But  they  are,  as  it  were,  an 
apostrophe  to  the  serpent,  in  the  hearing  of  Adam  and  Eve, 
designed  to  evince  to  them,  what  a  folly,  as  w^ell  as  crime, 
they  had  been  guilty  of,  in  being  deceived  by  so  low  a  seducer. 
The  words  are,  as  if  God  had  said  to  the  serpent:  "Although 
thou  hast  done  this  great  mischief,  yet  thou  art  no  lofty  and 
respectable  creature;  thou  art  one  of  the  meanest  of  all  ani- 
mals; thou  art  not  raised  to  any  high  form,  but  art  a  mere 
reptile,  and  shalt  always  continue  to  be  so;  upon  thy  belly 
thou  art  made  to  go ;  and  shalt  feed  low  all  the  days  of  thy 
life,  in  the  very  dust."*     Adam  and  Eve  had  conceived  higli 

3  Gen.  iii,  17.  *  noan  ntpjo  <3  Gen.  xlviii,  14. 

6  Kin  3T  o  ver.  11.  ^  aip  '3  Exod.  xiii,  17. 

*  \\  ;is  Uiei-e  ever  a  second  person  of  the  above  opinion  ?  Surely  such  a  far- 
ietched  interpretation  of  a  text  never  saw  the  sun.— Edit. 


CHAP.  XI.  FALL  OF  MAN.  171 

notions  of  the  serpent,  above  all  the  beasts  of  the  field  which 
the  Lord  had  made  ;^  but  God  here  reprehends  their  foolish 
fancy,  and  sets  before  them,  what  their  own  eyes  might  have 
told  them,  that  the  serpent  was  a  creature  made  only  for  a 
very  low  life;  and  that  no  such  elevation  as  they  imagined 
should  ever  belong  to  him,** 

The  translators  of  the  Bible  were,  I  dare  say,  led  to  think 
a  punishment  was  here  inflicted  upon  the  serpent,  from  the 
expression  of  his  being  cursed  above  every  beast  of  the  field. 
To  be  cursed,  may  be  to  have  some  signal  mischief  or  great 
evil,  either  wished  to,  or  inflicted  upon,  the  person  cursed. 
This  is  indeed  the  general  signification  of  the  word ;  but  it 
ought  to  be  considered,  whether  it  is  contrary  to  the  nature 
of  the  Hebrew  tongue,  to  call  a  thing  cursed,  when  such  cir- 
cumstances belong  to  it  as  are  so  extremely  bad,  that  it  might 
be  deemed  as  unhappy  a  thing,  even  as  a  most  severe  curse, 
to  be  under  them,  though  they  be  not  inflicted  as  a  particular 
judgment.  In  this  sense  the  Jews,  in  our  Saviour's  time, 
called  their  vulgar  or  common  people  cursed,'^  who,  they 
thought,  could  not  know  the  law.  We  cannot  suppose  them, 
here,  as  meaning  that  the  body  of  their  people  were  under 
any  particular  curse  or  judgment  of  God,  which  deprived 
them  of  all  possibility  of  knowing  their  duties;  rather  they 
thought  of  them  in  the  sentiment  of  the  prophet;  Surely 
these  are  poor  ;  they  are  foolish,  for  they  know  not  the  way 
of  the  Lord,  nor  the  judgment  of  their  God;  I  will  get  me 
to  the  great  men,  and  will  speak  unto  them,  for  they  have 
known  the  way  of  the  Lord.^  The  prophet  here  looks  upon 
the  poor,  not  as  particularly  cursed  of  God;  for  this  he  could 
not  think,^  but  they  were  in  such  circumstances  as  might 
not  have  afforded  them  any  considerable  information  concern- 
ing their  duties,  and  he  therefore  said,  he  would  get  him  to 
the  great,  as  reputing  it  more  likely  to  find  them  ready  to 
hear  and  understand.  In  this  Avay  the  Jews  held  their  es- 
timation of  the  common  people:  they  imagined  it  not  likely 
that  these  should  know  the  law ;  therefore  they  deemed  them 
so  despicably  ignorant,  that  though  no  particular  judgment  of 
God  was  in  the  case,  yet  they  held  them  in  no  kind  of  regard, 
but  as  in  a  cursed  or  most  contemptible  condition.  It  is  no 
unnatural  way  of  speaking  to  say  of  poor,  barren,  and  un- 
profitable land,  that  it  is  cursed  ground ;  not  only  where 
God  may  have  been  pleased  to  make  a  fruitful  land  barren, 
for  the  ivickedness  of  them  that  dwell  therein,^  as  was  par- 

7  Gen.  lii,  1. 

s  The  ancient  naturalists  have  largely  considered  the  propriety  of  the  mo- 
tion of  a  serpent,  to  its  whole  make,  and  construction  of  the  nature  of  : '  s  body ; 
\k  Tsrav  yjif  pxvfp:i>,  or/  Tcev  \v'J.tfjt.aiV  oVst  mru.  ixwjii;  ^clitu fx (/.iT^ct.  mri  rsrfioc  Tin 
ithMv  Ta  (Tce/Axro;  ^uj-iv,  xA^'XTtif  c»  o?«c,  coS'Ef  oiov  Ti  eturm  CTroTtoScv  tivvi, 
Arislot.  lib.  de  Animalium  incessu,  c.  viii. 

9  John  vii,  49.  i  Jerem.  v,  4,  5. 

"  See  Prov.  xxii,  1 ;  Deut.  xv,  11.  3  psalm  cvii,  34. 


172  THE  CREATION  AND         CHAP.  XI. 

ticularly  the  case  of  the  earth  that  was  cursed  upon  our  first 
parents'  having  sinned/  hut  also  when  the  land  is  very  steril 
and  unfruitful,  though  no  particular  curse  of  God  has  ever 
heen  denounced  against  it.  In  the  Hebrew  tongue  we  often 
find  things,  eminently  excellent  in  their  kind,  said  therefore 
to  be  of  God;  cedars  of  Lebanon,  highly  flourishing,  to  be, 
for  that  reason,  of  God's  planting;  so  on  the  contrary,  the  word 
cursed  may  as  reasonably  be  used,  as  it  were  in  contrast, 
where  God  had  given  no  appearance  of  a  blessing.  Adam 
and  Eve  were  thinking  highly  of  the  serpent;  the  design  of 
what  God  now  said  was  to  show  them,  that  he  was  a  creature 
deserving  their  lowest  notice;  they  thought  him  above  a;zy 
beast  of  the  field  which  the  Lord  had  made.  The  words 
here  spoken  were  to  tell  them,  that  he  was  not  above,  but 
beneath  all  others;  so  creeping  and  abject,  that  his  make  and 
form  might  be  spoken  of  in  terms,  as  if  they  were  a  curse 
upon  him.^ 

But  the  words  that  next  follow  have  greater  difficulties : 
Jlnd  1 10  ill  put  enmity  between  thee  and  the  ivoman,  and 
between  thy  seed  and  her  seed;  it  shall  bruise  thy  head, 
and  thou  shall  bruise  his  heel.^  The  inquiries  I  would 
make  concerning  these  words  are,  L  Whether  Adam  and 
Eve  understood  them?  II.  Whether  they  conceived  that  they 
had  any  reference  to  the  animal,  the  serpent  from  whose 
mouth  they  had  heard  the  words  which  had  beguiled  Eve  ? 
III.  What  may  be  the  true  and  literal  meaning  of  them  ? 

I.  Are  we  sure  that  Adam  and  Eve  understood  what  God 
now  spake  to  them  V  They  are  words,  which,  I  hope,  I  shall 
be  able  reasonably  to  explain,  and  show  to  be  the  first  pro- 
phecy which  was  made  to  the  world.  I  call  them  a  prophecy, 
as  speaking  of  events  to  come;  and  that  for  many  days  to 
come,  referring  to  what  was  to  be  accomplished  in  times  that 
were  afar  off.^  Therefore  though  it  seems  obvious  that  Adam 
and  Eve  might  understand,  from  what  was  spoken,  that  the 
enemy  who  had  hurt  them  would  at  length  be  conquered;  yet 
it  does  not  appear  that  they  were  precisely  informed  who  this 
enemy  was,  nor  what  the  contest  was  which  should  be  with  him 
and  against  him;  nor  how,  or  by  whom  in  particular  he  should 
be  sulDdued.  What  had  been  said  in  their  hearing,  concerning 

■'  Gen.  iii,  17. 

5  I  do  not  know  whetlier  I  might  not  observe,  that  tlie  ileath  of  being  hanged 
on  a  tree,  was  said  to  be  a  cursed  death  in  this  sense  of  the  word.  See  Deut. 
xxi,  22,  23.  There  were  other  deaths  inflicted  by  the  hiws  of  God;  such 
as  stoning  with  stones  till  a  man  died,  Levit.  xx,  2,  27,  &c.  Whoever 
came  under  the  sentence  of  this,  or  any  other  death  niflicted  by  God's  law, 
was  as  really  accursed  of  Gou,  as  he  that  was  hanged  on  a  tree;  but  the 
ignominy  of  tiiis  death  was  despicable  beyond  otliers  :  it  hud  a  shame  belong- 
ing to  it',  hard  to  get  over  and  despise ;  it  was  stigmatized,  low,  and  base, 
beyond  other  punishments,  and  therefore  had  peculiarly  this  term  of  rcproacli 
annexed  to  it. 

6  Gen.  iii,  15.  "  Ibid. 

8  Ezek.  xii,  27;  see  Dan.  xii,  8,  9.  13;  x,  14;  viii,  2f>,  27;  vii.  ?R 


CHAP.  XI.  FALL  OF  MAN.  173 

the  cursed  or  very  low  and  grovelling  nature  of  the  serpentj 
must  have  apprised  them,  that  they  had  been  much  mistaken 
in  their  notions  of  this  animal.  Whether  it  caused  them  to 
reflect,  although  they  did  not  before  think  so,  that  the  serpent 
did  not  perhaps  speak  of  himself;  but  that  they  had  some 
greater  enemy  whom  they  had  not  seen,  nor  known,  I  cannot 
say;  but  that  our  first  parents,' though  their  experimental 
knowledge  could  as  yet  be  but  little,  were  not  of  slow  parts, 
but  able  to  turn  ever}^  thing  hinted  to  them  over  in  their 
minds,  to  conceive  of  it  all  that  a  lively  imagination  would, 
as  far  as  they  could  know  things,  present  to  them,  must,  I 
think,  be  admitted  as  unquestionable;  and  that  they  hence- 
forward acquitted  the  serpent  of  all  guilt  towards  them, 
seems  to  me  to  appear  from  what  I  shall  presently  consider, 
viz.  that  we  have  no  hints  in  history,  that  either  they,  or 
their  immediate  descendants,  commenced  any  particular  en- 
mity or  hostility  against  the  animals  called  serpents,  any  more 
than  against  any  other  animals  of  the  world.  But,  that  Adam 
and  Eve  knew  the  real  meaning  of  what  was  here  said  to 
them,  any  more  than  the  ancient  prophets  perfectly  under- 
stood what  was  revealed  to  them,  to  be  by  them  declared  unto 
the  world,  is  what  I  see  no  reason  to  conclude.  Are  we  to 
think  that  Daniel,  after  he  had  written  down  what  had  been 
revealed  unto  him  concerning  the  seventy  weeks  determined 
upon  his  people,^  could  have  exactly  determined  what  fnan- 
ner  of  tirne  was  here  signified  beforehand ;  or  how  that 
which  was  testified,  was  to  be  fulfilled  in  the  sufferings  of 
Christ,  and  the  glory  that  should  follow  ?^  Or  shall  wx 
think,  that  David,  to  whom  it  had  been  foreshown,  that  his 
souP  should  not  be  left  in  Hell,  neither  should  God's  holy 
one  see  corruptioji,  could  have  hence  been  able  to  declare, 
that  Jesus  Christ,  or  even  any  one  of  his  (David's)  descendants, 
should  be  dead  and  buried,  and  on  the  third  day  be  raised 
from  the  dead?  Or  that  even  Moses,  who  recorded  the  words, 
which  God  had  thus  spoken  to  our  first  parents;  and  after- 
wards, that  in  Mraharrx's  seed  all  the  nations  of  the  Earth 
should  be  blessed;'^  and  afterwards,  that  Shiloh  should  come 
of  the  tribe  of  Judah ;^  and  farther,  that  God  would  give  the 
Israelites  a  prophet  from  among  their  brethren  like  unto 
him,  that  they  should  hear  him  ;^  can  we  say,  that  Moses 
could  have  explained,  as  St.  Paul  was  able  afterwards  to  show, 
who  the  particular  person  was,  that  was  to  be  this  seed  of  the 
woman;  the  seed  of  Abraham ;  the  Shiloh;  the  prophet 
who  was  to  come;  and  in  what  particular  manner  all  that  had 
been  foretold  should  in  him  be  fulfilled?''  Prophecy  was  de- 

0  Dan.  ix,  24—27.  i  1  Pet.  i,  11.         * 

2  Psalm  xvl,  10  ;  Acts  ii,  25—35.  s  Gen.  xxii,  18. 

*  Gen   xlix,  10.  5  Deut.  xviii,  35. 
G  Gal.  Ill,  14-16. 

Vol.  IV.  Z 


174  THE  CUEATIOX  AND  CHAP.  XT. 

signed  to  point  beforehand  to  something,  which  was  after- 
wards more  fully  to  be  revealed  ;  to  create  in  those,  unto 
whom  it  was  given,  an  expectation  of  things  not  yet  fully  ex- 
plained to  them ;  which  things  were,  in  the  progress  of  ages, 
to  be  farther  added  to  and  opened,  as  God  should  think  fit 
more  and  more  to  show  the  contents  of  them;  until,  when 
the  time  was  come  that  thef  whole  was  fulfilled,  they,  unto 
whom  the  things  foretold  were  accomplished,  might  look 
back,  and,  by  seeing  from  the  beginning  what  had  been  said, 
before  any  one  but  God  knew  how  these  things  should  so  be, 
might  hereby  have  a  surer  word^'  than  could  possibly  have 
been  contrived  for  cun-ningly  dnvispd  fahlcR,  to  show  them, 
that  the  things  thus  foretold,  and  thus  accomplished,  were  of 
God.  Such  is  that  series  of  promises  or  predictions  began  in 
the  words  now  spoken  by  God  to  our  first  parents;  enlarged, 
and  more  specified  as  to  their  meaning,  by  some  farther  pro- 
phecies given  in  after  ages;  until,  at  the  end  of  about  four 
thousand  years,  a  person  appeared,  in  whose  life  and  death, 
resurrection  and  glory,  the  whole  of  what  had  been  foretold 
was  clearly  seen  to  be  truly  and  literally  fulfilled;  but  yet  so 
foretold  and  so  fulfilled,  that  no  one,  before  things  were  come 
to  pass,  ever  so  understood  the  prophecies  as  to  think,  that 
thus  would  be  the  event  of  them.  Whereby  it  was  the  more 
demonstrably  proved,  that  the  whole  was  God's  work;  for, 
as  he  only  could  declare  the  end  from  the  beginning,^  mark 
out  truly  beforehand  the  traces  of  his  own  deep  counsels  and 
designs;  so,  what  had  been  foretold  by  him,  was  always  so 
imperfectly  understood,  as  to  be  looked  for  by  men  quite 
otherwise  than  it  came  to  pass:  and  herein  it  became  evident, 
when  it  was  come  to  pass,  that  no  human  contrivance  was  in 
the  fulfilling  it,  any  more  than  in  the  foretelling  it;  for,  had 
there  been  human  contrivance  in  it,  it  would  have  been 
brought  about  to  have  been  fulfilled  in  quite  another  manner. 
The  words  therefore  before  us,  now  spoken  by  God,  are,  as 
a  most  excellently  able  and  learned  prelate  has  pointed  out  to 
us,^  the  first  of  "  a  chain  of  prophecies  reaching  through  seve- 
ral thousand  years,  manifestly  subservient  to,  and  gradually 
opening,  one  and  the  same  administration  of  Providence  from 
beginning  to  end ;"  of  which  our  first  parents  knew  no  more, 
than  to  think  that  they  literally  had  hopes  herein,  so  far  seen 
by  them  as  to  give  them  reason  to  trust  and  depend  upon 
God;  but  not  enough  explained  to  them,  to  show  what  the 


^  2  I'et.  i,  19. 

8  Uemember  the  former  things  of  old;  for  I  am  God,  and  there  is  none  else ; 
I  am  Gon,  and  there  is  none  like  me ;  declaring  the  end  from  the  beginning', 
and  from  ancient  times  the  things  that  arc  not  yet  done  :  saying,  my  counsel 
shall  stand,  and  I  will  do  all  my  pleasure.     Isaiah  xlvi,  9,  10. 

«  Bishop  Sherlock's  Preface  to  the  third  edition  of  the  Use  and  Intent  oi 
Prophecy. 


CHAP.  XI.  FALL  OF  MAN.  175 

particular  things  were  which  they  were  to  hope  for,  or  how 
or  when  they  were  to  be  accomplished. 

II.  But  did  our  first  parents  apprehend,  that  any  thing  here 
said  concerned  or  related  to  the  animal,  to  the  serpent  from 
whose  mouth  the  guile  came,  which  deceived  them  ?  I  answer, 
I  think  they  did  not.  Had  Adam  and  Eve  understood  God 
as  meaning,  that  there  should  be  continual  war  between  man- 
kind and  the  serpents;  that  the  serpent  should  bite  the  heels 
of  men,  and  that  men  should  crush  and  bruise  to  pieces  the 
heads  of  serpents,  would  not  ancient  history  have  given  some 
account  of  the  endeavours  of  mankind,  in  the  first  ages,  to 
destroy  these  their  enemies?  It  is  observable,  that  God  does 
not  speak  of  the  serpent  as  a  creature  of  enormous  size,  but 
rather  as  so  contemptible,  that  Adam  could  have  no  reason  to 
be  afraid  of  it,^  but  might  have  easily  perhaps  stamped  it  un- 
der his  feet.  How  then  came  it  to  pass,  that  neither  Adam 
nor  Eve,  if  they  understood  that  they  were  to  destroy  ser- 
pents, did  instantly  bruise  the  head  of  this  their  enemy?  Or, 
if  it  may  be  said,  having  no  weapons,  they  might  be  afraid 
he  should  bruise  their  heel,  is  it  not  wonderful  that  they 
should  never  afterwards  contrive  how  to  afflict  this  hostile 
creature?  and  that  it  did  not  become  the  heroism  of  the  first 
generations  of  the  world  to  commence  a  sort  of  religious  war 
against  these  devoted  animals,  to  extirpate  the  whole  breed  of 
them  from  off  the  face  of  the  Earth?  In  after  ages,  and  in 
countries  where  the  clearing  them  of  serpents  was  thought  a 
public  good,  exploits  of  this  kind  had  their  glory : 

diram  qui  contudit  hydram. 

HOH. 

The  subduing  a  serpent  was  one  of  the  labours  of  Hercules  :^ 
nay,  he  was  said  to  have  killed  two  serpents  in  his  very- 
cradle:^  a  story  which  implies,  that  the  killing  serpents  was 
at  this  time  of  such  public  utility,  and  therefore  so  highly 
estimated,  that  no  greater  thing  could  be  said  of  this  hero,  to 

1  We  are  told  by  heathen  writers  of  serpents  of  a  most  incredible  size.  Pliny 
relates  from  Livy,  that,  when  Iteguhis  commanded  the  Romen  forces  in 
Africa,  he  was  infested  by  a  serpent  one  hundred  and  twenty  feet  long-,  and  so 
invulnerable,  its  scales  being  impenetrable,  and  its  breath  so  infectious,  that 
he  was  forced  to  use  the  military  engines,  which  they  used  against  towers  and 
the  walls  of  towns,  before  they  could  subdue  it;  and  says  the  skui  of  it  was 
hung  up  at  Home,  and  remained  there  until  the  war  witii  Numantia,  i.  e.  about 
one  hundred  years.  Vide  Plin.  Nat.  Hist.  lib.  viii,  c.  14.  Liv.  Hist.  lib.  xviii. 
c.  15,  16.  And  the  same  naturalist  speaks  of  serpents  twenty  cubits  long  in 
other  places.  Vide  Nat.  Hist.  lib.  xxxi,  c.  2.  And  of  so  large  a  size,  as  to 
draw  away  oxen  and  stags  whole.  Lib.  vii,  c.  14.  Whether  these  accounts 
did  not  exceed  what  was  strictly  the  truth,  ought  to  be  considered.  The 
Scriptures  hint,  that  serpents  in  Moses's  time  iiad  been  of  a  more  common 
measure,  such  as  might  lie  in  the  w.iy  and  bite  the  heels  of  horses,  Gen.  xlix, 
17.  And  we  have  no  reason  to  suppose  the  serpent  that  spake  to  Lve  to  have 
been  larger. 

2  ApoUodor.  lib.  ii,  c.  4;  Mart.  Ep,  lib.  ix,  ep.  104. 

3  ApoUodor.  ubi  sup. 


176  THE  CREATION  AND  CHAP.  XI. 

give  high  expectations  of  his  future  achievements,  or  to  evince 
his  origin  to  be  more  than  mortal.  Can  we  then  think,  in  the 
first  world,  of  which  the  history,  though  very  short,  is  not  so 
imperfect,  but  that  the  inventors  of  useful  arts,''  of  the  enter- 
tainments of  life,^  as  well  as  the  names  of  those,  who  were 
eminent  for  religion,  are  come  down  to  us;^  if  one  great  in- 
stance, of  performing  what  God  had  declared,  had  consisted 
in  destroying  serpents,  we  should  not  have  had  the  name  of 
some  one  worthy,  at  least,  who  had  exerted  himself  in  this 
warfare  ?  But,  in  truth,  the  animals  called  serpents  were  as 
yet  little  in  size,  contemptible  in  figure,  not  understood  to  be 
marked  out  by  God,  for  men  to  make  it  their  employment  to 
destroy  them;  and  accordingly  nothing  more  is  told  us,  of  the 
serpent's  having  to  do  with  man,  or  man  with  the  serpent, 
until  the  flood  came,  and  took  away  man  and  beast  from  ofl' 
the  earth.  The  serpent,  which  tempted  Eve,  is  reckoned 
amongst  the  beasts  of  the  field,  and  not  a  water  animal  ;^  and 
therefore  we  may  suppose  that  his  kind  had  been  preserved 
in  the  ark,  and  accordingly  had  come  to  Noah^  as  innocuous 

*  Gen.  iv.  20,  22.  ^  Ver.  21.  «  chap,  iv,  26. 

'  Gen.  iii,  1.  The  water-snakes  are  mentioned  in  all  writers  :  the  two  ser- 
pents related  in  Virgil  to  have  killed  Laocoon,  are  described  as  having  come 
over  the  sea. 

Ecce !  autem  gemini  a  Tenedo  tranquilla  per  alta, 
(florresco  referens)  immensis  Orbibus  Angues 
Incumbunt  pelago,  pariterque  ad  littora  tendunt : 
Pectora  quorum  inter  fluctus  arrecta,  jubaeque 
Sanguinese  exuperant  undas  :  pars  caetera  pontum 
Pone  legit,  sinuatque  immensa  volumine  terga. 
Fit  sonitus  spumante  salo  :  jamque  arva  tenebant, 
Ardentesque  ocxilos  sufFecti  sanguine  et  igni, 
.Sibila  lambebant  Unguis  vibrantibus  ora. 

ViiiG.  JEn.  lib.  ii. 

I'he  annotators  observe,  that  the  Latins  called  the  water-snakes,  ungues  ;  tlie 
land-snakes,  serpentes ;  and,  when  these  animals  were  consecrated  and  in 
temples,  dracones:  angues  aquarum  sunt,  serpentes  terrarum,  templorum  dra- 
cones.  And  so  Virgil  styles  these  very  serpents,  when  they  were  said  to  be 
hid  at  tlie  feet  of  Pallas ; 

At  gemini  lapsu  delubra  ad  summa  dracones 
Effiigiunt,  sxvxque  petunt  Tritonidis  arcein, 
Sub  pedibusque  de?e,  clvpeique  sub  orbe  teguntur. 

Id.  ibid.  ver.  225. 

The  Hebrews  had  a  different  word  for  serpents  of  the  water,  from  that  which 
they  used  for  the  land  kind.  The  river  serpent  tliey  called  jijp  (tennin  )  Thus, 
when  Moses's  rod  was  turned  into  a  seipent  before  Pharaoh,  it  was  tiu'ned 
(pjn*?  letennin)  into  a  rMter-snake,  as  Pliaraoh  probably  was  now  where  he 
usually  went  in  the  morning,  to  the  river.  But  the  sei-pcnt,  which  had  tempted 
Eve,  was  not  a  tennin,  but  a  nacluish,  a  land-serpent.  It  may  perhaps  be  ob- 
.served,  that  the  serpent  called  tenmn  is  also  called  vcxhusU.  See  E\od.  vii,  9, 
30,  12.  To  which  it  may  be  replied,  that  navhash  was  the  first  general  word 
used  for  a  serpent,  before  tiie  diflerent  kinds  of  tliem  were  distinguished : 
therefore  tlie  water-kinds  may  be  sometimes  called  by  this  general  name  ;  but 
it  will  not  follow,  that  where  nachash  is  used  above,  we  should  think  a  water- 
snake  intended.  As  in  English,  though  we  may  say  a  water-snake  is  a  snake; 
yet,  if  we  should  name  a  snake  or  serpent  only,  we  would  not  be  thought  to 
mean  a  water-snake. 
9  Gen.  vi,  20  ;  vii,  9. 


CHAP.  XI.  FALL  OF  MAN.  177 

to  men,  and  had  been  as  well  received  and  dismissed  by  him 
as  any  other  living  creature  of  the  world ;  so  that  I  do  not 
see  the  least  ground  to  imagine  that  Adam  apprehended,  in 
what  God  now  said,  any  thing  was  intimated,  that  there 
should  subsist  between  men  and  serpents  a  perpetual  enmity, 
to  be  always  biting  and  destroying  one  another. 

If  we  look  into  the  ages  after  the  flood,  we  find  that  ser- 
pents were,  before  Moses's  days,  becoming  noxious  animals;^ 
and  men,  when  Moses  lived,  were  in  general  afraid  of  them.^ 
There  might  ere  this  time  be  poisonous  juices  in  many  of  the 
herbs  and  plants  which  grew  on  the  earth.  The  same  altera- 
tion^ of  the  world,  which  began  from  the  flood,  and  conduced 
to  the  shortening  the  lives  of  men,  might  cause  such  an  altera- 
tion in  many  herbs,  that  men  might  not  perhaps  now  find 
every  green  herb  and  tree  as  wholesome,  as  they  had  found 
all  in  the  first  world :  and  the  nourishment  of  some,  in  the 
concoction  of  some  animals,  might  breed  in  them,  what  to 
man  and  other  creatures  might  be  malignant  poison.  At  the 
going  out  from  the  ark,  none  of  the  living  creatures  of  the 
world  appear  to  have  been  hurtful  or  destructive  to  man.  But 
time  produced  in  many  a  ferocity,  and  in  others,  other  quali- 
ties, which  made  them  terrible ;  and  serpents  were  in  general 
such  objects  of  terror  in  JNIoses's  days,  that  when  the  miracle, 
which  God  gave  him  to  assure  him,  that  he  sent  him  to  Egypt, 
took  effect,  IVIoses,  we  read,  when  he  saw  his  rod  turned  into 
a  serpent,  fled  from  before  it?  But,  notwithstanding  any 
thing  that  may  be  said  of  men's  natural  fears,  from  their  ap- 
prehensions of  the  venom  of  serpents,  a  thought  of  God's 
having  ever  given  any  order  in  particular  for  man  to  destroj?- 
serpents,  seems  to  be  a  mere  modern  imagination.  We  can 
find  no  traces  of  such  a  sentiment  in  all  antiquity;  rather,  the 
sages  of  the  early  times,  who  searched  into  antiquity,  and 
added  to  it  what  they  thought  the  religion  of  nature,"*  to  be 

9  Chap,  xlix,  17.  >  Exod.  iv,  3. 

2  See  Connect,  vol.  i,  b.  i,  p.  49-  '^  Exod.  iv,  3. 

4  See  Connect,  vol.  iii,  b.  xi,  p.  98.  The  sentiments,  that  led  them  to  their 
notions  of  the  divinity  of  the  serpents,  are  said  to  be,  Trvivy.a.riKuna.T'A  to  ^acy 
CTAyTut  Tuv  ifTrirm  kxi  TrufaSi; — wapaTsS'^,  vafi'  o  icui  tu^o?  avt/cTepfAJjTcv  S'tx  tk  Trviv- 

yUstTCC  .5T<X^/S-J)S-;,    ^apli  TTiSaiV  Ti  KUl  ^ilfU'V,    H  OLWiS  TtVC;  TCiV  i^wQ'iV,  i^  ftlV  TOL  KotTrtt^cex 

T:tf  K/v«<rac  Trciureu.  km  'roix.ixui   o-^njuttTuv  tutth;  xTroTiMi,    km  kxto.  t«v  '^ropiiAV 

'AiKOilSu?  i^il  TdLi  If/J-Ctg  ip  0  ^SKlTdLt  Ta;^Of  KCtt  TrciKU^ffOVlCDTelTOV  Si  'iTtV,  J  /jl.O]IOV  TO)  'wSuO- 
jUiVCV    TO    y,>pi;    VtX^UV,    aXXot    KUI    XU^lXJ-tV    'i7riS(J(i^d'»t   /Jlil^CV:t    TTlfUKl'     Xai    initittV    T9 

upi^jU-ii'ov  f^irpov  5rA«fa!irM.  «c  iaurov  a.ynKKJ'Ki'rur  u;  iv  tah  iepaj;  o/uoiaic  avro?  o  Teuuin: 
KATlTdi^i  ypcLpatc,  Jii  KUl  *4v  («go/c  TSTo  T&  ^ucv  Koii  iv  /uiig-iipioi;  ^u/UTToipttAiiTr'rci.i.  Euseb. 
Prjep.  Evan,^.  lib.  i,  c.  10.  We  cannot  sufficiently  despise  the  beggarly  ele- 
ments  of  this  philosophy ;  but  yet  it  ought  to  be  observed,  that  it  was  reputed 
a  heiglit  of  wisdom  in  its  day.  '  A  plain  demonstration  this,  what  may  be  tlie 
trifles  of  mere  human  reasoning,  when  it  has  not  been  enlightened  by  any 
better  inform.ition.  But  my  intention,  in  the  citation  above,  was  to  show,  that 
no  notions  had  traditionally  prevailed  to  intimate  that  the  serpent  had  been 
originally  a  cursed  creature,  appointed  everywhere  for  men  to  destroy ;  for 
that  the  most  ancient  speculative  and  more  curious  inquirers  had  no  bias 
against  theories,  which  might  represent  them  to  be  representatives  of  the 
most  high  Gon, 


178  THE  CREATION  AND  CHAP.  XI. 

above  the  common  notions  of  the  vulgar,  held  serpents  in 
high  honour,  had  introduced  them  into  their  temples,*  deli- 
neated their  figures  in  their  ancient  fables  and  formalities  of 
worship;^  and  gave  many,  such  as  they  thought  reasons,  for 
thinking  them  endowed  with  a  kind  of  divine  nature.^  And 
what  is  remarkable,  they  had  no  notion  of  the  serpent's  being 
the  representative  of  an  evil  being,  in  opposition  to  the  good 
God;  for  the  Egyptians,  we  are  told,  reputed  the  serpent  to 
be  an  emblem  of  their  god,  Cneph^  by  which  word  they 
meant  the  ATiumpyo;,^  we  might  render  it  the  workmaster^  or 
maker  of  all  things.  The  Phoenicians  translated  it  aya9o». 
Aatfxoia,  the  good  deity, ^  and  from  their  most  ancient  symbols 
it  may  be  thought,  that  they  intended  to  represent  in  their 
cxn^^o,-^^,  or  mystic  figures  of  the  serpent,  what  some  of  them 
called  the  owtxttxov  f  I  might  render  it,  the  Power  by  which 
all  thii^gs  consist. 

I  do  not  pretend  to  trace  the  time  of  the  rise  of  these 
heathen  superstitions  ;  they  being  brought  out  of  one  <;ountry 
into  another.  They  were  thought  to  have  been  introduced  into 
Greece  by  Pherecydes,''  who  was  contemporary  with  Thales,* 
and  did  not  flourish  there  earlier  than  about  one  thousand 
years  after  Moses  f  but  Pherecydes  had  them  from  the  Phoeni- 
cians ;''  and  the  Phoenicians  from  the  books  of  the  Egyptian 
Taautus  f  and,  I  think,  I  may  represent  these  notions  about 
the  serpent  as  having  been  in  vogue  in  Egypt  in,  and  before, 
Moses's  time.  For  it  is  much  to  be  observed,  that,  though 
Moses,  when  he  first  saw  his  rod  turned  into  a  serpent,  was 
terrified  and  fled  from  it,  until  God  bade  him  put  forth  his 
hand  and  take  it;^  yet,  when  the  same  rod  was,  in  like  manner, 


5     n^iTH  —  »?I/S-lCACJ,il5-«V  arTTi^  ■XfiX.ilTAt'  X-Ut  TSt  (Ait  ■JffUn^t  g-U)(U:t  TO.   Silt    TUV    O^SttV 

C'fytn,  S'eac  tsc  [Aiyi^v^  vi/ui^avn;  kcii  dpx,>'y>"^  ''"*''  oka'V.  Id,  ibid. 

"  Euseb.  Praep  Evang.  lib.  i,  10;  see  the  table  of  Isis;  Montfauc.  Antiq. 
vol.  i,  part  ii,  b  ii,  c.  1. 

"  Vide  qiiDE  sup. 

s  AiyvTTTi'jt  Kwip  tvovcfAn^aa-i.  Euseb.  ubi  sup, 

'J  Tov  Sn/uiispyov,  ov  Kmp  o/  Atyv^rriot  7rpo(ruycf.iuit<Ttv.  Id.  lib.  iii,  C.  11. 

'  See  \V'isdom  xiii,  1. 

"  <S>miKi;  Si  avTo  ayoi^ov  SdjfxovaL  Knxaa-tv.  Euseb.  Prxp.  Evang.  lib.  i,  c.  10. 

^  Et;  /uiv  u   AtyWTtci  dvo  t«c  euiTm  svvo/at   t6v  koit/uov  yfst^ovric,  xipifipn  kuxkcv 

dipOllS)!  K:lt  TtUpClVrCV    ■)(Ji.p±(7T>iTt,    X,'M  fAiO-OV  rlTHJUiVOY    C^tV K3U   IS"/  TO  TTHY  (T^UfXa.    cJt  TO 

Tap  ))/jiiv  GiiTcf  Tcv  /uiy  KVKXov  K'^<rfxov  fj^tivuoyri;  tov  Se  juia-ov  cfn  trvYHcTticiv  tutov  dyu^ov 
£iHjuoya  (Di/x-uvaVTi;.    id.  ibid 

*  H-xpsL  <l>civtKm  Si  K-xt  <tipi>i.vSn;  Kct^ciw  TXi  d.9opua.(  ibiO.zyriiTi  Trict  TS  Trap'  clutu 
/.iyofxivw  'Ofimioii  Qui/  n^t  tw  'Oifia.'ViSav.  Euseb,  Pi'xp.  Evang.  lib.  i,  c.  10. 

5  I'licrecydcs  was  thought  to  have  flourished  about  the  fifty-ninth  Olympiad, 
Tiiales  to  have  died  in  about  the  fii't\ -eighth. 

«  Moses  died  A.  M.  2554.  The  fifty -ninth  Olympiad  was  about  A.  M.  3555. 
'  Eu.seb.  ubi  sup. 

*  TctMJTOf  01  A/)  uTrrtot  ©a'3-  7rpo<r3iyopiui!(rt — txv  y.iv  cuv  tx  Acaxo'TCC  ^-ja-tv  ksu  <ru\ 
0(^tm  ajuTOt  i^i^ixa-iv  o  Taai/rcc,  icu.i  /uir'  auToy  av^i;  tbomxH.  Euseb.  ubi  sup.  We 
are  to  observe  of  A/jaxovToc,  that  a  serpent  was  called  druco  when  consecrated, 
and  put  into  a  temple.     Vide  qux  sup. 

-  Exod.  iv,  3,  4. 


CHAP.  XI.  FALL  OF  MAN.  179 

turned  into  a  serpent  before  Pharaoh,  and  when  all  the  rods 
of  his  magicians  were  turned  into  serpents  likewise,  neither 
Pharaoh  nor  his  magicians  appear  to  have  been  under  any 
consternation.^  They  knew  the  arcana  of  their  temples,  that 
serpents  were  at  this  time  amongst  the  saci'a  in  their  worship, 
and  reputed  the  representatives,  not  of  a  malign,  but  of  their 
good  god.  They  might  therefore  think,  that  their  gods  were 
come  down  amongst  them^  to  support  them  against  the  de- 
mand made  by  Moses,  and  that  the  wonderful  phaenomena, 
before  them,  portended  great  assistance  and  good,  but  no  evil 
to  give  them  any  terror.  It  ought  only  to  be  observed,  that 
when  they  saw  JNIoses's  rod  swallow  up  all  the  rods  of  their 
magicians,^  they  ought  hence  to  have  been  instructed,  in  the 
way  of  their  own  speculations,  that  a  power  appeared  for 
Moses  which  literally  executed  judgm,ent  against  the  gods 
of  Egypt, '^  annihilating  and  destroying  the  most  wonderful 
appearances  they  could  imagine  of  their  gods,  to  gainsay 
what,  by  Moses,  was  required  of  them. 

As  what  I  have  observed  does,  I  think,  hint  to  us,  that 
there  were  in  the  world  no  notions  of  serpents  antecedent  to 
Moses's  writing  his  history,  which  can  in  any  wise  show  that 
mankind  had  any  remarkable  enmity  against,  or  thought 
themselves  under  any  command  to  destroy  them ;  so,  I  might 
observe  farther,  from  what  follows  in  the  books  of  Moses,  that 
serpents  were  not,  from  any  thing  said  by  him,  devoted  to 
either  such  odium  or  destruction ;  for  I  should  think,  if  they 
had  been  so  devoted,  it  is  not  likely  that  God  would  have  ap- 
pointed a  serpent  to  be  set  up  in  the  wilderness  for  the^  peo- 
ple to  look  up  to,  in  order  to  be  cured  of  the  plague  he  had 
then  inflicted  upon  them ;  because  any  other  sign,  if  God  had 
appointed  it,  would  have  been  equally  salutary.  It  does  not 
seem  agreeable  to  any  end  of  a  divine  dispensation,  that  a 
prophet  should  make  the  figure  of  a  creature  an  emblem  of 
health  and  life,  if  he  had  designed  that  the  same  prophet 
should  proscribe  the  whole  species  of  that  creature  to  be  abo- 
minated and  destroyed.  But  the  fact  was,  the  serpent  spake 
to  Eve,  as  the  ass  did  to  Balaam,  both,  as  to  themselves,  igno- 
rantly  and  without  intention;  and  neither  was  the  one  ordered 
to  be  honoured  for  what  he  said,  nor  the  other  to  be  disgraced 
and  destroyed.  It  was  fit  that  Adam  and  Eve  should  be  ap- 
prised how  mean  an  animal  they  had  admitted  to  be  the  in- 
strument of  deceiving  them;  and  God  was  pleased  very  em- 
phatically to  tell  them  this  is  in  what  he  said  of  the  serpent, 
as  I  have  above  explained  it.  It  was  in  nowise  reasonable, 
that  they  should  henceforth  be  employed  as  killers  of  ser- 
pents; and,  agreeably  hereto,  the  words  farther  spoken  do  iu 

»  Exod.  vii,  10—13. 

2  Thus  the  men  of  Lystra,  upon  seeing  a  miracle,  thought  of  Barnabus  anii 
Paul,  according  to  their  superstition,  Acts  xiv,  11, 

3  Esod.  vii,  12.  4  Chap,  xii,  12.  5  Numb.  xxi. 


180  THE  CREATION  AND  CHAP.  XI. 

nowise  order,  nor  were,  or  could  be  understood  by  them,  to 
order  this  service,  as  will  more  evidently  appear  by  consi- 
dering, 

III.  The  true  literal  meaning  of  the  words,  and  I  will  put 
enmity  between  thee  and  the  woman,  and  between  thy  seed 
and  her  seed,  it  shall  bruise  thy  head,  and  thou  shall  bruise 
HIS  heel.  Upon  which  words  I  would  remark,  1.  That  no- 
thing is  said,  which  in  any  wise  employed  Adam.  It  was 
not  said,  I  will  put  enmity  between  the  man  and  the  woman 
and  thee,  and  between  thy  seed  and  their  seed ;  they  shall 
bruise  thy  head,  and  thou  shalt  bruise  their  heels.  But  the 
enmity  was  put  between  the  woman  only,  and  the  person  here 
spoken  of,  and  between  his  seed  and  her  seed.  Adam  was 
not  the  woman  nor  of  the  seed  of  the  woman ;  for  the  woman 
was  made  out  of  him ;  he  was  made  first,  and  then  the  woman. 
So  that,  whatever  the  enmity  was,  we  see  that  Adam  was  re- 
markably not  made  a  party  to  engage  in  it;  an  incident,  which 
must  have  occasioned  him  to  reflect,  that  the  matter  here  in- 
tended, could  not  be  the  hating  and  killing  the  animal  called 
a  serpent;  for  if  that  had  been  designed,  a  slaughter  of  the 
then  serpent  would  have  been  seen  to  be  what  might  more 
likely  have  been  instantly  accimplished  by  Adam,  than  by 
Eve  and  her  future  posterity. 

But  I  would  observe,  that,  in  this  particular,  there  appears 
plainly  what  must,  with  all  reasonable  thinkers,  for  ever  si- 
lence all  pretence  of  reconciling  an  allegorical  interpretation 
with  the  real  meaning  of  this  Scripture.  The  allegorical  in- 
terpreters say,  that  the  serpent  is  the  symbol  of  lust  and  sen- 
sual pleasure;^  that  Adam  and  Eve's  being  tempted  by  the 
serpent  means,  that  they  were  drawn  away  and  entiqed  by 
their  own  lusts  and  appetites,  that  the  fact  in  truth  was,  that 
they  were  originally  formed  for  a  state  of  happiness  and  per- 
fection, which  they  lost  and  forfeited  by  following  their  lusts 
and  passions,  in  opposition  to  the  will  of  their  Creator.^  Now 
if  this  be  the  true  way  of  interpreting  Moses,  it  must  follow, 
that  the  enmity  appointed  against  the  serpent  means  an  oppo- 
sition to  the  insinuations  of  sinful  appetites,  a  striving  against 
sin;  and  the  declared  event  of  this  contest  must  be,  that  our 
sinful  appetites  and  lusts  will  often  hurt  us;  but  that,  if  we  will 
press  forwards,  though  in  many  steps  we  take,  we  may  some- 
times meet  defeat,  yet  in  the  end  we  shall  capitally  wound 
and  subdue  them.  I  promise  myself,  that  no  candid  allegorist 
will  accuse  me  of  having  herein  falsified,  or  injured  his  sys- 
tem. Herein  then  is  summed  up  all  that  is  so  highly  boasted 
of  as  rational :  but  how  obvious  is  it  to  see  in  all  this,  that  it 
does  not  touch  the  matter  related  by  Moses  ?  The  enmity 
declared  by  Moses  to  be  put  was,  I  observed,  such,  that  no 

^  See  MitUlleton's  Essay  on  llic  Allegorical  and  Literal  Interpretation, 
•1.  132.  "  If'ifl.  p.  1"J- 


CHAP.  XI.  FALL  OF  MAN.  181 

part  of  it  was  assigned  to  Adam:  Eve  only,  and  her  seed, 
were  the  parties  in  this  warfare:  and  shall  we  now  say,  that 
nothing  more  was  intended,  than  the  duty  of  striving  against 
and  conquering  sinful  appetites?  Was  Adam  then,  after  the 
fall,  to  have  no  such  appetites  as  well  as  Eve,  and  all  who  were 
to  be  born  of  her?  or  was  he  to  have  no  struggle  against  such 
like  passions  with  other  men  ?  Was  he  to  be  given  up  to  a 
reprobate  mind,  to  do  whatever  he  should  lust?  This  I  take 
to  be  a  plain  fact;  which  all  the  art  and  subtlety  of  our  pre- 
tended reasoners  will  never  be  able  to  reconcile  and  clear  up. 
To  this  therefore  I  would  earnestly  call  the  reader's  strictest 
attention :  and  would  beg  to  have  this  one  point  taken  into 
the  severest  examination ;  for  I  must  think,  if  it  be  found  to 
be  as  I  have  represented,  the  allegory  must  here  meet  its 
bane.  It  will  be  so  clearly  evident,  that  there  is  something 
in  the  text  before  us,  which  the  allegorical  interpretation  can- 
not reach,  that  no  one,  who  is  truly  ingenuous,  will  any  more 
contend  for  it. 

2,  But  we  ought  to  observe,  that  in  the  words  here  related 
by  Moses,  as  having  been  heard  from  God;  it  was  not  said 
that  mankind  and  serpents  should  have  a  general  enmity 
against  each  other;  but  the  Hebrew  words,  if  truly  inter- 
preted, denote,  that  some  one  person  should  descend  from 
the  woman,  who  should  capitally  conquer  and  subdue  the 
grqat  enemy  of  mankind.  If  I  were  forced  to  allow,  that  we 
have  now  so  far  lost  the  perfect  understanding  of  the  idiom 
of  the  Hebrew  tongue,  as  not  to  see  that  the  words  here  used 
by  Moses  must  carry  this  restrictive  sense ;  yet  from  the  Sep- 
tuagint  version  of  the  place  it  appears,  that  when  that  transla- 
tion was  made,  the  Hebrew  words  were  known  to  have  that 
meaning.^     The  Septuagint  version  of  the  passage  is  thus: 

Kai  £;^^paj'  ^;;tfw  d^a  fjnaov  an  xat  "■»'«■  utaov  tr^?  yvvaixo^,  xav  ava 
fjnaov  ■tn  ortifj/ua-fos  oo,  ach.  lifa  fieciov  fa  STttp/xatOi  avtTj^.  ATTOS 
(j8  ■fr;^ri6it'  xE^aTiyjv,  xai  av  T'i;pj;(j£t;  avtn  Tttipvav  i.  e.   t/2/ld  I  Will 

put  enmity  betioeen  thee  and  between  the  woinan,  and  be- 
tween thy  seed,  and  betioeen  the  seed  of  her ;  he  shall  bruise 
thy  head,  and  thou  shall  bruise  his  heel.  The  point  to  be 
observed  in  this  translation  is ;  that  it  does  not  say  it  shall 
bruise  thy  head,  the  pronoun  does  not  refer  to  the  word  seed; 
but  it  is  HE  shall  bruise,  the  pronoun  being  personal,  and 
masculine,  not  agreeing  with  the  word  07tip)j.a,  seed,  which  is 
neuter;  but  denoting  some  one  person  to  be  the  seed,  and  that 
he  should  bruise  the  head  of  the  enemy  here  spoken  of.  Had 
the  Greek  interpreters  thought  the  text  meant  that  the  wo- 
man's seed  or  offspring  in  general  were  here  intended,  they 
would  have  said  avto,  to  agree  with  (jrtsp/tta,  as  we  say  it  in 

8  The  Septuagint  translation  of  the  books  of  Moses  was  made  about  two 
hundred  and  seventy -seven  years  before  Christ,  about  A.  M.  3727.  See  Arch- 
bishop Usher's  Annuls,    PridCviux's  Connect,  part  ii,  book  i. 

Vol.  IV.  A  a 


182  thf:  creation  and  chap.  xi. 

our  English;  but  they  more  correctly  rendered  the  place 
avtoi,  HE,  apprehending  some  one  particular  person  to  be 
here  intended,  and  not  the  offspring  of  the  woman  in  general. 

But  may  it  not  be  said,  that  the  avto^  here  used  is  a  mis- 
take ;  that  the  Septuagint  did  perhaps  not  take  the  true  mean- 
ing of  the  Hebrew  expression ;  that  they  should  have  written 
not  ttD-ros,  but  avT-o,  it,  not  he?  I  answer,  we,  who  believe 
the  Scriptures,  have  the  authority  of  St.  Paul  to  assure  us, 
that  the  Septuagint  version  is  most  judiciously  right  in  this 
particular;  that  apostle  having  remarked  a  similar  and  subse- 
quent expression  to  that  which  is  here  used,  that  God  therein 
spake,  not  o/  seeds,  as  of  many,  but  of  seed,  as  one,  and 
hereby  intended  Christ.'  Thus  absolutely  certain  therefore 
are  we,  that  the  Septuagint  translators  have,  in  the  peculiarity 
of  the  pronoun  avtoi,  given  us  the  true  meaning  of  the  text; 
for  we  have  an  inspired  apostle  testifying,  that  they  have 
therein  given  us  what  was  really  the  mind  of  God.  But  I 
would  consider  in  the  next  place,  whether  the  Hebrew  text 
does  speak  the  very  same  thing. 

The  Hebrew  words  here  used  are,  hua  jeshuph  ka  rosh^ 
which  signify  not  it,  but  he  himself  shall  bruise  thee  in  the 
head.^  The  Hebrew  text  may  not,  at  first  sight,  appear  so 
remarkably  to  point  out  what  the  Greek  version  clearly  inti- 
mates ;  for,  in  the  Hebrew,  the  word  {zeran)  seed,  is  mascu- 
line, not  neuter,  as  the  word  (Srtfp;ua  in  the  Greek  ;  therefore 
the  pronoun  hua,  in  the  Hebrew,  does  not,  like  avr'oj  in  the 
Greek,  directly  vary  in  gender  from  the  noun  to  which  it 
should  be  referred.  But  we  should  here  consider,  that  the 
Hebrew  pronoun,  hua,  is  specifically  restrictive  ;  to  intimate 
what  is  said  to  belong  to  some  one  person,  or  one  thing ;  and 
thus  the  Septuagmt  took  the  place  as  meaning,  not  of  seeds, 
as  of  many,  but  of  one. 

I  do  not  say  that  the  pronoun  hua,  in  Hebrew,  may  never 
be  used,  where  in  Greek,  or  in  other  languages,  we  would 
use  a  neutral  pronoun,  it  in  English,  illud  in  Latin,  or  atr o 
in  Greek;  but,  I  think,  where  hua  is  used,  it  naturally 
speaks  the  thing  intended  in  the  singular  number,  and  not  re- 
ferring to  a  noun  of  multitude  as  plural.  Thus,  Leviticus  x, 
3.  Hua  ashe?'  dibber  Jehovah,^  we  say,  /his  is  that  the 
Lord  spake,  which,  I  think,  is  deficient  of  the  true  emphasis 
expressed  in  the  Hebrew.  The  words  were  designed  to  show 
the  error  of  Nadab  and  Abihu's  offering  strange  fire,  which 
the  Lord  commanded  them  not,  i.  e.  had  not  commanded 
them ;  and  they  should  be  translated,  this  is  the  one  thing,  or 


«  See  Gal.  iii,  16. 

«  Ttie  Hebrew  words  .ire. 

caput      conteret  te 

Kin 
ipse 

5  Gen.  iii,  15. 

^  nvT  -131  nc-K  v.yr 

CHAP.  XI.  FALL  OF  MAN.  183 

the  thing  itself  which  the  Lord  spake.  The  words  were  in 
tended  to  lay  down  one  special  or  specific  rule,  which  was 
the  principle  in  all  the  laws  given;  they  strictly  required  one 
thing  only,  namely,  nothing  to  be  done,  but  what  God  di 
rected,  to  sanctify  him,  and  him  only,  in  them  that  come 
nigh  him.''  We  may,  I  think,  put  in  itself,  him  or  herself, 
in  the  singular  number  where  hua  is  used;  and  thus  in  the 
text  before  us,  hua  jesuphka  rosh  cannot  mean  it,  her  seed, 
shall  bruise  thee  in  the  head,  taking  the  word  seed  as  a  noun 
of  multitude  to  intend  many ;  for  in  such  case  the  Hebrew 
language  would  have  been,  they  shall  bruise  thee  in  the  head ; 
but  hua  jesuphka,  if  we  rightly  translate  the  Hebrew,  must 
be  he  himself,  intending  one  person  and  no  more.  Thus  the 
translators  of  the  Septuagint  rendered  the  place,  without  in- 
spiration, and  before  any  prophet  or  apostle  had  directed  any 
such  interpretation,  by  being  only  true  masters  of  the  He- 
brew tongue,  so  as  not  to  lose  or  vary  from  the  precise  mean- 
ing of  a  very  significant  expression  in  it.  But  I  must  still 
remark,  that  if  I  should  be  judged  wrong  in  all  I  have  here 
said  of  the  Hebrew  expression,  the  authority  of  St.  Paul  will 
still  remain,  to  give  us  the  true  meaning  of  the  place  ;  for,  in 
that  the  apostle,  an  inspired  writer,  informs  us,  that  in  the 
word  seed,  was  intended,  7iot  m,any  but  one,  and  that  one, 
Christ;  God  has  not  left  him,self  without  a  witness  to  us, 
what  was  the  intention  of  the  words  before  us  spoken  to  our 
first  parents. 

And  if  what  St.  Paul  explains  to  be  the  meaning  of  the 
word  spoken  to  our  first  parents  was  the  real  intention  of  God's 
purpose  in  them,  we  must  admit,  that  God,  when  he  caused 
Adam  and  Eve  to  hear  the  words  from  him,  caused  them  so 
far  to  know  the  intention  of  the  words  spoken,  as  not  to 
imagine  from  them,  that  he  designed  an  idle  and  insignificant 
war,  between  Eve,  and  her  children,  and  the  serpents;  but 
he  promised  them  hua,  him,,  one  person  of  her  seed,  although 
he  did  not  tell  them  who  that  one  person  was,  who  was  to  be 
the  captain  of  our  salvation,^  the  conqueror  here  foretold 
to  subdue  him,  who  had  deceived  them. 

And  this  was  all  they  could  possibly  as  yet  know  of  this 
matter,  no  more  than  this  being,  as  I  have  said,  told  them. 
Who  the  particular  person  promised  was ;  what  the  warfare 
he  should  accomplish ;  who  the  very  enemy  was,  to  be  con- 
quered by  him  ;  when,  and  where,  and  in  what  manner  he 
should  appear ;  none  of  these  things  can  be  said  to  have  been 
discovered  to  them  :  and  therefore,  as  Joseph  and  Mary,  when 
our  Saviour,  upon  coming  home  with  them  from  thetemple, 
said  to  them,  tVist  ye  not  that  I  must  be  about  my  father\H 
business?  understood  not  the  saying  which  he  spake  unto 
them  :  but  his  mother  kept  all  these  sayings  in  her  heart/" 

«  Levit.  X,  3,  as  above.  »  Ueb,  ii,  10.  '^  Luke  ii,  49—51. 


184  THE  CREATION  AND  GHAP.  XI. 

SO  our  first  parents  did  not  understand  the  whole  meaning  of 
what  God  here  intended  ;  but  they  carefully  treasured  up  the 
words  in  their  hearts ;  formed  hopes  from  them,  the  extent 
of  which  they  could  not  as  yet  determine.  They  preserved 
the  words  to  have  their  children  know  them  ;  to  the  intent 
that  they  also  might  show  their  children  the  same,  that  future 
generations  might  see  the  whole  of  what  God  had  spoken, 
and  observe  what  might  farther  arise  in  fulfilling  it. 

We,  who  live  in  these  last  days  of  the  world,  unto  whom, 
in  the  gospel,  the  kingdom  of  God  is  come,  may  plainly  see 
what  that  purpose  of  God  is,  which  was  hid  from  ages,fro')n 
the  foundation  of  the  world  :  but  is  now  made  more  mani- 
fest J  We  may  see  Jesus  Christ,  a  man  ordaijied  of  Gon,^ 
of  the  seed  of  the  iuom,an,  most  literally  speaking,  as  born 
of  a  virgin  f  descended  from  David,^  who  was  of  the  seed 
of  Abraham^  a  descendant  of  our  first  parents  :  and  may 
know  of  this  one  person,  that  he  is  to  conquer  that  old  ser- 
pent, called  the  Devil  and  Satan,  which  deceiveth  the 
whole  world  f  of  whom  we  may  consider  the  words  as 
coming,  which  were  spoken  by  the  serpent  to  Eve ;  though 
our  fii'st  parents  saw  him  not,  neither  understood  that  they 
came  from  him.  We  may  farther  understand,  that  by  the 
power  of  Christ,  this,  the  great  enemy  of  mankind,  will  be 
cast  down  ;"•  whereby  will  finally  be  accomplished,  in  a  most 
literal  and  true  sense,  all  that  the  text  before  us  first  intimated, 
and  all  that  has  been  since  said  pursuant  thereto,  either  by  im- 
mediate revelation  from  God  himself,  or  by  the  mouth  of  all 
his  prophets,  since  the  world  began. 

This,  I  think,  is  a  true  consideration  of  the  words  I  have 
endeavoured  to  explain.  And,  in  the  whole  of  what  I  have 
gone  through,  as  in  what  is  to  follow,  I  shall,  I  hope,  be  al- 
lowed to  stand  clear  of  what  the  objectors  impute  to  all  who 
write  upon  this  subject.  I  do  not  sometimes  adhere  to  a  lite- 
ral narration,  and  sometimes  have  recourse  to  allegory,  forced 
to  allow  some  part  of  what  was  said  or  done,  not  to  have  been 
as  it  is  historically  told  us;  but  I  endeavour  to  show,  that 
there  is  no  allegory  in  the  whole,  or  in  any  part  of  Moses's 
relation:  and  that  a  material  part  of  what  he  relates,  that  im- 
portant part,  in  which  the  allegorist  must  absolutely  lose  his 
point,  if  he  cannot  make  it  out  to  be  allegory,  cannot  possibly 
agree  to  an  allegorical  interpretation  at  all.  I  contend,  that  a 
real,  a  natural  serpent,  as  truly  spake  to  Eve,  as  a  real  ass 


'  See  Coloss.  i,  26. 

s  Acts  xvii,  31. 

9  Isaiah  vii,  14;  Matt,  i,  18,  24,  25 ;  Luke  i,  34,  35. 

'  St.  Luke,  as  lie  tells  us,  chap,  ii,  4,  that  Josepli~vas  of  the  house  and  lineage 
of  David;  so  also,  chap,  i,  27,  informs  us,  that  the  Virgin  Mary  also  was  a  d€- 
Kcendanl  IVoiti  David. 

2  See  Matt.  i. 

'  Rev.  xii,  9 ;  xx,  10.  "  Ibid. 


CHAP.  XI.  FALL  OF  MAN.  185 

spake  to  Balaam  ;*  but  I  apprehend,  from  what  we  may  learn 
from  other  Scriptures,  and  from  the  considering  the  nature  of 
the  thing,  we  may  know,  that  neither  the  ass  nor  the  serpent 
spake  of^  themselves;  neither  knew  they  what  the  words  were 
which  were  spoken  by  them ;  although  our  first  parents  could 
not  know  this  to  be  true  of  the  serpent  at  the  time  he  spake* 
to  them.  I  take  the  words,  contained  Gen.  iii,  14,  15,  to  have 
been  literally  spoken  by  the  voice  of  God  ;  that  the  former 
part  of  them  were  in  the  way  of  apostrophe  to  the  serpent,  but 
for  the  instruction  of  Adam  and  Eve;  for,  that  the  serpent  did 
not  know  the  words,  nor  the  meaning  of  them,  nor  was  in  any 
wise  affected  by  them;  but  that  Adam  and  Eve  were  herein 
admonished  and  informed,  how  basely  they  had  been  deceiv- 
ed, and  by  hearkening  to  how  abject  and  contemptible  an  ani- 
mal. It  will  be  allowed  me,  that  the  invisible  agent,  whose 
words  the  serpent  had  spoken,  was  at  this  time  present  before 
God;  for,  in  truth,  all  persons  and  all  things  may,  at  all  times, 
be  present  before  him,  in  what  manner  he  pleases ;  and  I  take 
the  latter  part  of  what  was  spoken,  the  15th  verse,  to  be  an 
address  of  the  speaker  to  this  wicked  spirit,  denouncing  to 
him,  what  should  be  the  doom  for  which  he  was  reserved ; 
spoken  in  the  hearing  of  Adam  and  Eve,  though  they  did  not 
apprehend  the  full  meaning  of  it;  yet,  so  spoken,  as  that  they 
must  have  considered  it  could  not  concern  the  animal  they  had 
heard  speak;  but  had  a  farther  intention,  and  was  a  declaration 
which  they  ought  to  ponder  in  their  hearts,  and  transmit  to 
their  children;  and  that  from  this,  the  first,  and  from  several 
other  prophecies  which  have  followed,  more  enlarged  and 
more  directing,  as  God  has  thought  fit  to  give  them  in  the 
several  ages  of  the  world,  there  has  been  a  sure  path  laid,  to 
lead  from  faith  to  faith,''  from  one  revealed  declaration  to 
another,  those  unto  whom  such  prophecies  have  come;  so  that 
we  and  posterity  may,  if  we  will  carefully  attend  to  the  in- 
formation, have,  over  and  besides  all  other  arguments  for  the 
truth  of  it,  what  may  show  us  of  the  gospel,  that  it  is  that  one 
purpose  of  the  wisdom  and  power  of  God,  which  he  foretold, 

s  Numb.  xxii.  That  the  ass  speaking  to  Balaam  was  a  real  fact,  and  not  a 
trance,  or  vision  of  the  prophet,  see  Connect,  vol.  iii,  b.  xii,  p.  177. 

6  Dr.  Burnet  trifles  most  egregiously  in  this  particular:  His  words  are  : 
"  Aiunt  nempe,  sub  hoc  serpente  laluisse  diabolum,  vel  malum  daemonem,  qui 
hujus  animalis  ore  et  organis  usus  affatus  est  focminam  voce  quasi  humana  : 
sed  quo  teste,  quo  authore  hoc  dicitur  ?  Non  id  prae  se  fert  litera  Mosis,  cujus 
illi  adeo  sunt  tenaces."  Burnet's  Archaeol.  p.  290.  A  plain  answer  to  all 
this  is,  the  letter  of  Moses  says,  that  the  serpent  really  spake  to  Eve :  this  un- 
questionably was  fact:  Moses  does  not  say,  that  he  spake  of  himself,  or  of 
any  ability  of  his  own,  nor  does  he  say  the  contrary.  We  see  no  reason  to 
think  our  first  parents,  at  first  at  least,  apprehended  that  he  did  not  speak  of 
himself;  but  we  have  many  hints  from  the  New  Testament,  who  it  was  tliat 
spake  by  or  through  him  :  will  tliese  now  conclude,  tliat  no  voice  came  lite- 
rally from  the  serpent  ? 

"  Rom.  i,  1". 


186  THE  CREATION,  &C.  CHAP.  XI. 

and  therefore  designed  from  the  beginning  of  the  world.  In 
all  which,  I  trust,  I  do  not  theologize  with  those,  whose 
schemes  are  inconsistent  with  reason  and  themselves;  but, 
saying  none  other  things  than  what  reason,  fairly  considering, 
must  admit  to  be  possible,  and  revelation  warrants  to  be  true, 
*vhat  1  offer  may  be  more  fit  to  be  impartially  considered, 
than  all  the  speculations  of  human  wisdom,  which  cannot  be 
truly  reconciled  with  the  Holy  Scriptures. 


CHAPTER  XII. 


The  Sentence  passed  upon  Mam  and  Eve,  and  the 
Consequences  of  their  Transgression  considered. 


THE  sentence  passed  upon  Eve  was,  that  it  should  hence- 
forth be  specially  her  duty,  to  be  governed  by  and  obey 
her  husband  ;^  that  she  should  bear  children,^  be  the  mother 
of  all  living ;'^  but  have  herein  a  multiplicity  of  sorrow.'* 
Adam  henceforth  was  to  find  his  tillage  of  the  ground  a  ne- 
cessary but  laborious  employment;'  in  or  by  the  sweat  of  his 
face,  he  was  to  eat  his  bread. 

It  seems  natural  to  think,  that  whilst  there  were  yet  but 
two  persons  in  the  world,  a  sufficient  produce  for  two  only 
might  more  easily  be  obtained  from  the  fruits  of  the  trees, 
from  the  shrubs,  and  from  the  herbs  of  the  ground.  Might 
not  our  first  parents,  notwithstanding  it  pleased  God  to  have 
the  earth  now  not  so  kindly  fruitful,  but  apt  to  abound  in 
thorns  and  thistles,  unless  duly  cultivated  for  a  better  pro- 
duce,^ for  some  time  at  least,  respecting  their  diet,  find  the 
easy  days,  which  the  heathen  poet  ascribed  to  their  golden 
age, 

Contentique  cibis  nuUo  cogente  creatis, 
Arbuteos  fcetus  montanaque  fraga  legebant, 

Otid.  Met. 

Excluded  the  garden,  wherever  they  wandered  into  the  ad- 
jacent country,  may  we  not  suppose  that  the  earth  afibrded 
them  fruits  of  divers  trees,  nuts  and  berries,  grain  of  all  sorts, 
corn  of  several  kinds,  and  all  salads ;  every  thing  which  grew 
jind  had  seed  within  itself,  being  at  first  created  and  made  to 

>  Gen.  iii,  16.  2  ibid.;  1  Tim.  ii,  15.  '  Gen.  iii,  20 

*  Ver.  16.  s  Ver.  17—19,  ■«  Ver.  18, 


188  THE  CREATION  AND  CHAP.  XII. 

spring  out  of  the  earth  V  and  might  they  not  hence  gather 
daily  what  we  may  suppose  to  be  no  hard  and  uncomfortable 
living,  without  finding  a  great  pressure  of  want  and  distress? 
I  answer ;  we  read  Moses  too  hastily,  if  we  do  not  observe, 
1.  However  our  first  parents  were  allowed  within  the  garden 
to  eat  of  every  tree,  except  one;'  and  the  trees  of  the  earth, 
as  well  as  the  herb  upon  the  face  of  all  the  earth,  were  given 
them  for  food  f  yet,  upon  their  expulsion  from  the  garden, 
their  living  v/ould  be,  thenceforth,  chiefly  of  the  ground.^ 
Are  we  to  think,  because  God  planted  or  created  within  that 
particular  spot  of  ground,  which  he  had  distinguished  from 
all  others  to  be  called  the  garden,  trees,  of  whatever  perfec- 
tion he  was  pleased  to  give  them,  that,  therefore,  all  trees 
were  of  their  full  growth,  and  abounded  in  their  fruits  all  over 
the  world  ?  Rather,  may  we  not  apprehend,  that  the  earth, 
in  many  parts,  was  made  only  to  put  forth  its  shoots,  which 
grew  gradually  up  to  their  perfection  ?  When  Adam  and  Eve, 
therefore,  were  driven  out  of  the  garden,  fruits  of  trees, 
acorns,  and  great  plenty  of  berries,  might  be  more  rare  than 
we  may  hastily  imagine  ;  a  point,  I  think  hinted,  in  that  at 
first  the  fowls  of  the  air,  as  well  as  every  beast  of  the  earth, 
were  to  live,  not  so  remarkably  of  the  fruit  of  trees,  as  of  the 
green  herb ;  distinguished  from  the  trees,  and  said  to  grow 
upon  the  face  of  all  the  earth :  it  was  of  a  lower  growth, 
nearer  to,  and  more  closely  covering  the  ground.^  2.  But  we 
cannot  form  an  exact  theory  of  the  labours  of  our  first  parents' 
lives,  because  we  cannot  ascertain  how  long  they  lived  in  their 
first  habitation,  before  they  committed  the  transgression 
which  caused  them  to  be  driven  fi-oin  it.  We  may  observe, 
that  one  part  of  their  employment  in  the  garden  was  lenah- 
dali^  to  dress  it  ;'*  it  is  the  same  word  which  is  used,  where 
we  are  told,  that  God  sent  Adam  forth  from  the  garden^ 
laabad,  to  till  the  ground,  from  whence  he  was  taken.^ 
Adam  was  now  put  out  of  the  garden  into  the  adjacent  coun- 
try, where  God  created  him  f  his  tillage,  expressed  by  the 
same  word  as  his  dressing  the  garden,  seems  to  have  been  the 
same  employment,  only  to  be  exercised  upon  a  different  soil. 
And  if  we  may  suppose  that  he  had  been  exercised  long- 
enough  in  the  garden,  to  know  what  the  employment  was 
which  God  had  given  him  in  it ;  we  cannot  think  him  quite  a 
novice  in  what  was  now  to  be  his  labour.  Nothing,  in  truth, 
confounds  us  in  forming  our  conceptions  concerning  our  first 
parents,  except  thinking  that  the  Fall  happened  instantly,  be- 
fore they  had  lived  long  enough  to  have  some  experience  of 
living.  Let  us  only  suppose  it  not  so  early ;  but  that  they 
might  have  had  some  months  to  observe  of  the  herbs  of  the 


•  Gen.  i,  12.  s  chap,  ii,  16,  17.  »  Chap,  i,  29. 
'  Chap,  iii,  17.                -'  Chap,  i,  29.  3  nnajr"?. 

*  Gen.  ii,  15  '  ncnNn-.iN  inj,"'?-  Gen.  iii,  23.    «  ibid. 


CHAP.  XII.  FALL  OF  MAN.  189 

garden  what  they  liked  best  to  eat,  and  how  they  might  cul- 
tivate them  to  give  them  a  due  growth,  and  we  may  suppose 
them  sent  forth  into  the  world,  with  this  care,  to  find  places 
here  and  there,  where  there  were  such  produces  as  they  had 
eaten  of;  to  cultivate  and  to  preserve  them ;  to  weed  out  the 
thistles,  which  soon  began  to  grow  amongst  them  ;  to  defend 
and  keep  them  from  the  cattle ;  that  enough  of  them  might 
be  had  within  such  distances  as  they  could  go  to  for  the  suste- 
nance of  their  lives.  This  labour,  if  duly  considered,  will 
be  allowed  to  have  been  a  burden  which  they  had  not  felt 
whilst  they  lived  in  the  garden  ;  and  to  be  sufficient,  although 
at  first,  before  both  beasts  and  cattle,  and  mankind,  were  mul- 
tiplied on  the  earth,  it  would  not  be  absolutely  too  much  for 
them.  The  first  husbandry  was  no  more  than  gardening ;' 
and  the  grounds  most  commodious  for  the  early  tillage  were 
reputed  to  be  such  spots  as  might  be  made  gardens  of  herbs;' 
and  the  easiest  and  happiest  situation  for  these  was  accounted 
such,  that  a  man  might  water  them  with  the  greatest  ease  f 
and  such  spots  of  ground  abounded  out  of  the  garden,  all 
along  the  land  of  Eden,  on  the  borders  of  its  rivers.^  Upon 
one  of  these,  I  conceive,  Adam  bestowed  his  first  pains,  and 
by  a  diligent  care  cultivated  and  preserved  in  them  enough 
for  him  and  Eve,  of  what  they  had  often  before  eaten  within 
the  garden.  When  mankind  came  to  multiply,  it  would  be 
necessary  for  them  to  look  for  farther  provision  ;  and  before 
A(|am  was  a  hundred  and  thirty  years  old,  Cain,  one  of  his 
sons,  began  improvements  in  tillage.^  And  though  iron,  or 
brass,  was  not  yet  found  out,  and  consequently  no  instru- 
ments for  tillage  were  made  of  any  metals  ;  it  requires  no  ex- 
traordinary imagination  to  conceive,  that  this  early  age  might, 
by  the  means  of  sharp  stones,^  cut  wood  and  frame  tools  of 
divers  sorts,  such  as  would  serve  well  enough  to  perform  their 
less  improved  agriculture : 


primi  cuneis  scindebant  fissile  lignum. 

ViRG. 


'  Antiqultas  nihil  prius  mirata  est  quam — hortos— hinc  primum  agrlcoljc 
xstimabantur  prisci.     Vide  Plinii  Nat.  Hist.  lib.  xix,  c.  19,  sec.  1 — 3. 

8  Deut  xi,  10.  9  Ibid.  Vide  quae  sup. 

>  Felicltas  major  Bubyloniee,  Seleucije,  Euphrate  atque  Tigre  restagnantibus, 
quoniam  rigandi  modus  Ibi  manu  temperatur.  Plin.  Nat.  Hist.  lib.  xviii,  c.  47, 
ud  fin. 

2  Adam  was  one  hundred  and  thirty  years  old  at  the  birth  of  Seth,  after 
the  death  of  Abel,  Gen.  iv,  25;  v,  3.  Abel  was  killed  by  Cain  about  the  time 
they  each  of  them  brought  an  offering  unto  God  from  the  improvement  of  their 
respective  employments,  not  many  years,  I  suppose,  before  the  birth  of  Seth, 
Gen.  iv,  2—4. 

3  The  great  use  of  sharp  stones  made  in  the  first  unimproved  ages  of  all 
countries,  might  be  collected  from  all,  who  have  written  of  the  American 
nations.  It  might  likewise  be  observed,  that  even  the^  use  of  them,  to  cut, 
as  with  a  knife,  was  not,  in  some  improved  countries,  laid  aside  even  in  Moses's 
limes.     See  Kxod.  iv,  25. 

Vol.  IV.  B  b 


190  THE  CREATION  AND  CHAP.  XII. 

Or  we  may  suppose  the  first  men  were  soon  able  to  contrive 
how  to  pull  ofi",  or  to  cut,  from  young  trees  such  twigs  as 
might  be  scraped,  and  reduced  to  fit  tiie  uses  they  had  occa- 
sion to  make  of  them,  before  they  knew  how,  in  a  workman- 
like manner,  to  take  down  a  whole  tree,  or  wanted,  or  even 
liad  large  trees  for  greater  occasions.  Arts  and  improvements 
grew,  and  had  their  progress :  Abel  began  to  be  a  keeper  of 
sheep;  and  Jabal,  a  descendant  of  Cain,  in  the  sixth  descent 
from  him,  set  up  booths  or  tents  in  the  fields,  and  began  to 
order  herds  of  greater  cattle :  and  Tubal  Cain,  about  the  same 
time,  found  out  and  instructed  others  to  be  artificers  in  brass 
and  iron."*  And  now  we  may  apprehend,  that  the  tillage  of 
the  earth  received  an  increase  by  improvements : 

Mox  et  frumentis  labor  additus . 

ViHG. 

The  garden  tillage  would  not  afford  a  sufficient  produce  for 
the  increased  multitudes  of  mankind  ;  nor  could  large  tracts 
be  managed  with  the  insufficient  implements  of  the  most  early 
husbandry  ;  but,  as  they  wanted  them,'  human  art  and  in- 
dustry contrived  better.  Thus  agriculture  grew  and  increased 
gradually,  as  the  necessities  of  mankind  called  for  farther  and 
larger  improvements  of  it.  In  all  this,  one  observation  only 
is  material,  that  the  sentence  of  God  upon  man  was  in  all 
these  ages  felt  enough  to  keep  them  sensible  of  that  part  of 
the  punishment  denounced,  which  concerned  the  labour  of 
their  lives.^  Our  first  parents  had  not  such  enlarged  wjmts 
as  their  more  numerous  posterity  ;  but  having  less  knowledge 
how  to  supply  their  lesser  demands,  sufficient  for  their  day 
was  the  labour  thereof.  As  the  gracious  purpose  of  God  was 
not  instantly  to  destroy  man,  but  to  have  him  ripened  through 
a  mortal  life  for  a  happier  state,  no  wants  oppressed  him,  but 
what  he  might  by  industry  and  labour  get  the  better  of.^  Yet 
we  do  not  find,  that  any  improvements  in  husbandry  made  in 
the  first  world  were  so  great,  but  that  the  most  experienced 
in  its  later  times  acknowledged  themselves  sensible  of  the 
heavy  and  universal  burden  of  their  lives,  or  the  great  toil 
and  work  of  their  hands,  but  before  they  had  a  grant  to 
make  use  of  animal  food,  for  a  farther  supply  than  what  they 
could  reap  from  the  ground.^ 


4  Gen.  IT,  20,  22. 

5 Turn  variae  venere  artes. 

ViRO.  Georg.  i 

< Pater  ipse  colendi 

Haud  facilem  esse  viam  voluit 

•  curia  acuens  mortalia  corda. 

Id.  ibid. 

T  Labor  omnia  vincit 

Improbus,  et  duria  urgens  in  rebus  egestas. 

Id.  ibid. 
«  Gen.  V,  29, 


CHAP.  XII.  FALL  OP  MAN.  191 

But  the  last  part  of  the  sentence  denounced  upon  the  man 
was,  that  he  should  die ;  that,  as  he  had  been  taken  out  of  the 
ground,  so  he  should,  after  a  laborious  life,  return  unto  the 
ground  again,  and  become  no  better  than  his  primitive  dust.^ 

This  sentence,  we  may  observe,  is  not  so  particularly  re- 
peated against  Eve  as  against  the  man.  But  as  all  experience 
testifies,  that  the  woman  is  in  nowise  exempted  from  death, 
it  must  be  remarked,  that  enough  was  said  in  the  original  de- 
nunciation of  death,^  as  well  as  acknowledged  by  Eve  herself,^ 
to  show,  that,  having  transgressed,  and  the  sentence  of  death 
against  such  transgression  being  in  nowise  reversed,  it  could 
not  be  supposed,  that  she  could  think  it  should  not  proceed 
against  her.  But  there  appears  an  evident  I'eason,  why  the 
sentence  of  death  should  be  thus  repeated,  and,  as  it  were,  re- 
established against  Adam.  He  had  thought,  and  offered  it  as 
a  mitigation  of  his  fault,  that  he  was  not  the  first  in  trans- 
gression, for  that  the  woman  had  misled  him  to  eat;^  God, 
therefore,  denounced  more  particularly  to  him,  that  he  should 
not  escape  the  punishment  denounced  against  what  he  had 
done;  to  tell  him,  that  his  plea  was  no  excuse;  for  that,  al- 
though'' he  had  been  misled  by  hearkening  unto  the  voice  of 
his  wife,  yet,  as  he  had  done  what  had  been  commanded  not 
to  be  done,  he  also  should  surely  die. 

It  hath  been  thought  by  some,  that  the  death  declared 
against  the  sin  of  our  first  parents,  ought,  according  to  the 
plain  meaning  of  the  words  in  which  it  was  denounced,  to 
have  proceeded  to  an  immediate  execution.  In  the.  day  that 
they  ate  of  the  tree,  they  were  surely  to  dieJ  Can  it  be 
said  with  any  propriety,  that  when  x\.dam  died,  nine^  hun- 
dred and  thirty  years  afterwards,  that  he  died  in  the  day 
that  he  ate  of  the  tree  of  the  knowledge  of  good  and  evil? 
This  is  a  cavil  too  trifling  to  want  confutation ;  for  every  one, 
who  reads  the  Hebrew  Bible,  must  see  a  manifest  difference 
between  the  general  expression  hejom^  in  the  day,  and 
bejom  hazeh^  in  that  very  day,  bejom  hahua^  in  the  same 
day.  Had  either  of  the  latter  expressions  been  used  in  the 
seventeenth  verse  of  the  second  chapter  of  Genesis,  it  might 
have  signified,  that  in  the  very  day  of  their  eating  they  should, 
without  farther  delay,  have  been  put  to  death ;  but  the  general 
expression,  in  the  day,  may  very  obviously  claim  to  have 
a  larger  signification,  and  intend  no  more,  than  that  from  the 
time  of  their  transgression  they  should  become  mortal ;  have 

9  Gen,  iii,  19.  i  Chap,  ii,  \7. 

2  Chap,  iii,  3.  3  Chap  iii,  12. 

■»  It  may  be  observed,  that  the  particle  ki  may  be  even  here  rendered,  not 
became,  but  more  elegantly  although,  as  1  have  before  observed  it  must  be 
sometimes  translated.     Vide  qux  supra. 

5  Gen.  ii,  17.  6  Chap,  v,  5. 

'  DV3.    Gen.  ii.  17.  *  n?n  av3.     Gen.  vii,  11. 

'  Ninn  av3.  Gen.  xv,  18.  See  Gen.  xvii,  Jj,  26;  Exod.  v,  6;  xii,  1; 
Levit-  xxiii,  29  ;  Isaiah  vii,  20 ;  et  in  aliis  ubique. 


192  THE  CREATION  AND  CHAP.  XII. 

in  themselves  the  sentence  of  death^  sure  to  take  effect  and 
be  executed  in  its  time,  which  he,  who  made  them,  would 
appoint. 

It  was  now  determined,  that  they  should  inevitably  die ; 
but  the  instant,  hour,  or  day  when,  was  still  left  in  God's 
power ;  and  we  may  easily  apprehend  great  and  wise  reasons, 
why  God  was  not  pleased  to  bring  our  first  parents,  and  their 
immediate  descendants,  to  a  more  early  dissolution.  God  in 
nowise  made  man  for  nought;^  and  although  he  made  not 
death  for  us,^  but  man  sought  it  in  the  error  of  his  life,''  yet 
herein  God's  abundant  goodness  has  provided  for  us.  It 
could  not  be  consistent  with  the  liberty  of  reason  and  the 
freedom  of  our  natures,  that  he  should  absolutely  force  upon 
us  either  wisdom  or  virtue.  Being  such  creatures  as  he  in- 
tended, it  was  more  suitable  for  us  to  be  admitted  to  grow 
up,  if  we  would,  as  our  faculties  were  capable  of  improvement 
in  both,  under  the  universal  influence  of  his  Spirit,  in  and  by 
which,  agreeably  to  their  respective  natures,  all  things  are^ 
and  do  consist;^  and  consequently,  time  would  be  necessary 
for  our  increasing  in  all  knowledge  as  well  as  virtue.  What 
I  shall  here  offer  shall  chiefly,  concern  the  former. 

We  have  now,  indeed,  lives  but  as  a  shadow,  short  as  a 
dream,  in  comparison  of  the  duration  of  the  first  men ;  but 
we  have  much  light  from  the  experience  of  ages;  all  the  know- 
ledge we  want  for  life  is  not  so  far  from  us  as  it  was  from 
them,  who  lived  in  the  beginning.  Had  our  first  parents, 
and  their  immediate  descendants,  come  to  decline  as  precipi- 
tately as  we  do,  their  knowledge  of  life  would  have  been  cut 
down  too  fast  for- any  shoots  to  be  made,  which  might  yield 
a  produce  of  arts  and  sciences  necessary  for  the  improvement 
of  the  world.  Therefore,  if  we  duly  think  of  mankind,  what 
we  came  from,  and  how  we  are  come  up  to  what  we  now  are, 
we  may  see,  respecting  our  present  life,  that  it  is  long  enough, 
ordinarily  speaking,  for  what  is  to  be  our  work  in  the  world ;'^ 
and  also,  that  the  early  ages  must  have  required  a  more  ex- 
tended period  for  human  attainments  to  be  gradually  opened 
and  disi)layed ;  that  man,  as  far  as  he  was  made  capable,  if  he 
should  have  time  to  come  up  to  it,  might  not  absolutely  be 
cutoff  from,  in  not  being  allowed  a  sufficient  term  to  attain 
it.  The  complaint,  that  life  is  not  long  enough  for  man  to 
reap  all  the  fruits^  of  his  labours  under  the  Sun,  might  be  as 
sensibly  felt  by  our  earliest  forefathers,  as  it  is  by  us.  They 
lived,  as  I  may  say,  nearer  the  ground :  their  prospects  were 
not  so  elevated  (things  not  having  been  tried  for  common 
use  and  benefit)  as  our  sights  of  tilings  are.     The  schools  of 

'  2  Cor.  i,  9.  2  Psalm  Ixxxix,  A7. 

^  Wisdom  i,  !;>.  i  Ver.  12. 

s  See  and  consider  John  i,  9;  Job  xxxii,  8;  2  Cor.  iii,  5;  Coloss.  i,  17. 
"  See  Sherlock  upon  Death,  b.  iii,  sec.  2, 
We  commonly  say,  "  Ars  longa,  vita  brevis." 


CHAP.  XII.  FALL  OF  MAN.  ,     193 

literature,  or  the  shops  of  artificers,  can  at  once  put  us,  even 
in  our  younger  years,  upon  a  progress  in  science  above  what 
they  could  come  near  to  in  all  their  centuries;  and  excepting, 
that  if  they  would  fear  God,  and  keep  his  commandments, 
they  had  herein  all  that  they  wanted  for  a  life  to  come  (and 
we,  in  all  our  attainments,  more  than  this,  have  nothing  wor- 
thy to  be  compared  with  it,)  they  must  have  felt  concerning 
their  life,  when  over,  though  they  did  not  feel  it  so  soon  as 
■we  do,  that,  in  comparison  of  what  they  might  have  hoped 
from  it,  few,  after  all,  and  evil,  were  the  days  of  their  pil- 
grimage.^ A  pilgrimage  it  was,  which,  however  long  we 
may  think  it,  in  counting  over  the  days  of  the  years  of  it, 
imquestionably  seemed  to  them,  when  they  had  passed  through 
it,  but  as  a  tale  that  was  told ;  and  it  brake  off,  at  last,  short 
of  that  human  perfection,  which  they  might  perceive  was 
far  more  extensive  than  what  they  had  attained ;  and  that, 
had  their  lives  been  shorter,  they  would  not  have  had 
room  to  lay  the  foundation  for  what  God  intended  they 
should  contribute  to  human  science  and  the  improvement 
of  the  world. 

In  the  day  that  our  first  parents  ate  of  the  tree  they  died, 
or  became  mortal.  It  is  frivolously  inquired  by  some,  whether 
the  food  of  the  tree  was  not  of  a  deadly  or  poisonous  nature, 
deceitful  to  the  eye,  appearing  to  be  good  for  food^  but  in- 
wardly a 


fiiUax'  herba  veneni, 

ViHG. 


8  .Jacob  said  this  of  his  days,  wlien  he  was  one  hundred  and  thirty  years 
old;  Gen.  xlvii,  9.  And  can  we  think,  that,  if  he  had  lived  to  the  daj's  of  the 
years  of  the  life  of  his  progenitors,  he  would  have  foiuid  in  human  life,  to  use 
TuUy's  language,  the  quod  est  diu?  Cic.  de  Senectute. 

9  Gen.  iii,  6. 

1  The  epithet /a//ax,  here  used  by  Virgil,  is,  I  think,  peculiar.  I  do  not 
remenibcr  any  herb  described  by  the  naturalists  as  being  remarkably  tempting 
to  the  eye  or  taste,  and  inwardly  a  ti-eacherous  and  deceitful  poison  ;  yet  this 
seems  the  intention  of  Virgil's  epithet.  Mr.  Pope  well  enough  calls  it  the 
herb  that  conceals  poison.  See  the,  notes  on  his  Eclogue,  Messiah.  Had  he 
had  a  word  wtucii  would  have  hinted,  that  the  herb  had  been  tempting,  to  in- 
duce men  to  be  deceived  and  poisoned,  he  had  more  fully  come  up  to  Virgil's 
expression.  The  annotators  upon  Virgil  say,  "  Fallax  herba,  quia  mortaies 
fallaciter  iis  utuntur."  I  do  not  see  the  spirit  of  Virgil's  poetry  in  this  expli- 
cation.  It  rather  creeps  to  human  artifice  in  the  use  of  the  medicine,  to 
represent  the  deceit  of  it,  than  it  gives  a  lively  hint,  that  the  herb  itself 
had  an  innate  quality,  both  to  hurt  and  to  tempt  to  deceit  and  ruin  those 
who  should  be  inclined  to  use  it.  The  learned  generally  suppose,  that  Virgil 
wrote  his  Pollio  upon  hints  taken  from  some  prophetic  poems  among  the  Ko- ' 
manSj'which  had  originally  been  formed  from  some  sentiments  taken  out  of 
the  Jewish  Scriptures.  And  as  Virgil  introduces  the  serpent  in  the  same  line, 
occidec  et  serpens  et  fallax  lierbu  veneni,  if  it  may  be  supposed,  that  any  frag- 
ment or  sacred  bonk  of  the  heathens  had  hinted  "any  thing  of  a  serpent's  hav- 
ing deceived  mankind,  by  eating  what  he  had  offered  to  them,  or  if  Virgil  had, 
by  any  search  after  the  notions  of  the  Jewish  literature,  formed  any  thought  of 
such  an  ancient  sentiment,  he  may  be  conceived  very  poetically  to  have  thence 
v.-ritten  h\s  fallax  lierba  veneni. 


194  THE  CREATION  AND  CHAP.  XII. 

treacherously  full  of  those  malignant  juices,  which  would 
have  a  natural  effect  to  cause  mortality?  I  should  rather  think, 
that,  as  yet,  every  thing  which  God  had  made  was  intrinsi- 
cally good;^  that  there  was  naturally  nothing  nocent  and 
baleful ;  nothing  that  would  hurt  or  destroy  ;^  and  the  mor- 
tality of  man  is  in  nowise  hinted  by  Moses,  as  being  the  natu- 
ral event  of  his  having  eaten  of  the  tree.  He  rather  suggests, 
that  the  frame  of  man  would  of  course  not  be  eternal,  unless 
God  was  pleased  farther  to  make  it  so  enduring.  Dust  thou 
art,  and  unto  dust  thou  shalt  return,'^  was  the  declaration 
now  made  to  Adam.  Undoubtedly  he,  who  iipholdeth  all 
things  by  the  word  of  his  power  ;  in  whom  we  live,  move, 
and  have  our  being,  and  by  whom  all  things  consist,^  could 
have  spoken  the  word,  and  the  mortal  of  our  first  parents 
■would  have  put  on  immortality  ;  of  which  he  gave  them  a 
sign,  in  the  appointment  of  the  tree  of  life. ^  But  this  word 
was  not  as  yet  spoken  ;  for  they  had  not  yet,  under  the  direc- 
tion of  it,  taken  and  eaten  of  the  tree  of  life  to  live  for  ever  ;^ 
and  this  not  being  done,  God  was  now  pleased  to  prevent 
their  doing  it.^  Accordingly,  they  were  henceforward  to 
have  their  houses  of  clay,  whose  foundations  were  but  dust, 
stand  only  until  time  would  moulder  them,  and  bring  them 
by  a  gradual  decay  down  again  to  the  ground. 

Now  this,  rightly  understood,  must  instruct  us  to  say  like- 
wise, concerning  the  tree  of  life  also,  that  it  could  have  no 
natural  effect  to  give  eternal  life  to  those,  who  should  eat  of 
it.  There  could  be  no  such  power  in  it  by  nature.  God  only 
hath  immortality,^  and  he  can  give  to  have  life  in  himself 
to  whomsoever,  to  whatsoever,  and  in  what  manner  soever 
he  will.  If  he  had  appointed,  that  our  first  parents  should, 
whenever  he  commanded  it,  have  taken  and  eaten  of  a  particu- 
lar tree,  and  from  thenceforth  be  immortal,  the  command 
must  be  rationally  understood,  as  we  understand  our  eating 
bread  and  drinking  wine  in  our  sacrament,  in  order  to  be  par- 
takers of  the  body  and  blood  of  Christ.^  The  outward  ac- 
tion would  profit  nothing,^  were  it  not  the  commandment  of 


2  Gen.  i,  31. 

3  Things  were,  I  apprehend,  at  first  universally  innocuous;  as  the  prophetic 
writings,  and  best  comments  upon  tliem  (see  Isaiah  ii,  4;  xi,  6 — 9;  Ixv,  25, 
&c.,)  hint  they  will  in  tlieir  time  be  restored  to  be  ;  of  which  happy  state  of 
thing's  to  come  Virgil  had  collected  many  sentiments,  almost  verbatim,  and 
thought  them  an  ornament  to  his  poem.'  See  Pope's  Notes  on  his  Messiah  ; 
4nd,  more  particularly,  Bishop  Chandler's  Defence  of  Christianity. 

*  Gen.  iii.  19.  »  Heb.  i,  3;  Acts  xvii,  28;  Col.  i,  17. 

6  Gen.  ii.  9.  '  Chap,  lii,  22. 

«  Chap,  iii,  23,  24.  ?  1  Tim.  vi,  16. 

»  See  Common  Prayer  Communion  oflice.    John  vi,  51 — 58. 

2  The  flesh  profiteih  nuthing  ;  the  -words,  that  I  speak  unto  you,  they  are  spirit, 
and  titey  are  life  ;  John  vi,  63.  These  words  of  our  Saviour  do,  1  think,  plainly 
hint  to  us,  that  the  notion  of  a  transubstantiated  body  and  blood  of  Christ  in 
the  sacramait,  as  the  Papists  hold,  is  a  fanc) ,  not  only  groundless,  but  m  itself 
insignificant  and  vain  j  for  that  as  the  words  our  Saviour  spake,  the  command- 


CHAP.  Xll.  FALL  OF  MAN.  195 

God.  But  the  doing,  with  a  faithful  heart,  what  God  has  ex- 
pressly commanded,  as  a  memorial,  and  in  acknowledgment, 
that  we  receive  the  benefits  we  hope  for,  not  as  coming  of 
ourselves,  but  as  they  in  truth  are  the  gift  of  God;  may  be 
both  a  reason  and  an  assurance,  that  they  shall  be  given  us 
according  to  our  believing  and  doing  his  word.  And  herein 
we  may  see,  why  man,  having  forfeited  the  hope  of  immor- 
tality, of  which  he  was  to  have  been  made  a  partaker  in  eat- 
ing of  the  tree  of  life,  the  liberty  to  eat  of  that  tree  was  now 
denied  him.  We  cannot  be  so  absurd  as  to  imagine,  that  if 
Adam  and  Eve,  as  soon  as  they  had  eaten  of  the  forbidden 
tree,  before  God  had  prevented  them,  had  taken  also  and  eaten 
of  the  tree  of  life,  they  would  thereby  have  defeated  the  pur- 
pose of  God,  and,  notwithstanding  what  God  had  denounced, 
would  have  escaped  death  by  having  eaten  of  it:  the  text  of 
Moses  neither  speaks  nor  hints  any  such  thing. 

The  words  of  Moses  are,  And  now  lest  he  put  forth  his 
hand,  and  take  also  of  the  tree  of  life,  and  eat  fvechai 
leolam.p  Moses  does  not  here  use  the  verb  vachayah, 
which  would  be  rightly  rendered  and  live,  as  we  translate 
vechal,*  and  eat ;  but  the  words  used  by  Moses  are  the  par- 
ticle ve  and  the  participle  chai.  Now  ve,  in  many  passages  of 
Scripture,  signifies,  not  aTic?,  but«,y,  quasi,  or  sicut,  in  Latin;' 
and  ve  chai,  strictly  rendered,  signifies,  as  living :  and  the 
expression  of  Moses,  rightly  translated,  is,  And  now,  lest  he 
put  forth  his  hand  and  take  also  of  the  tree  of  life  as  one 
living,  i.  e.  as  if  he  were  one  who  tvas  to  live  for  ever.  The 
sense  of  the  place,  thus  rendered,  is  clear  and  reasonable,  free 
from  those  trifling  insinuations,  which  might  otherwise  be  de- 
duced from  it.  It  was  not  fit,  that  God  should  leave  our  first 
parents  the  use  of  the  sign  of  immortality,  when  the  thing 
signified  was  taken  from  them ;  therefore  he  now  ordered 
them  to  remove  out  of  the  garden,  and  placed  at  the  east  of 
the  garden  of  Eden  cherubim  and  a  flaming  sword,  tvhich 
turned  every  way,  to  keep  the  way  of  the  tree  of  life,^  to 
deter  and  prevent  their  approach  to  eat.  God  now  gave 
them  a  visible  evidence,  such  as  he  afterwards  showed  the 
Jews  in  the  holy  place  of  Sinai,^  that  he  was  greater  to  be 
feared  than  it  had  as  yet  entered  their  poor  imagination  to 
conceive;  that  he  had  hosts  in  Heaven  to  execute  his  word; 
angels,  that  were  his  ministers,  and  a  flame  of  fire. ^ 

The  facts  we  have  considered  can,  I  think,  want  no  farther 
examination.    There  are,  undoubtedly,  other  inquiries,  which 

ment  he  gave  was  not  meant  thus  grossly,  but  intended  in  a  spiritual  sense, 
the  flesli  would  profit  nothing.  The  eating  the  body  and  drinking  the  blood 
of  Christ  really,  in  his  flesh,  if  they  could  do  it,  not  being  what  he  commanded, 
would  be  of  no  moment  at  all. 

5  See- 1  Sam.  xii,  15;  2  Sam.  xv,  24;  et  m  al.  loc.     Noldius  in  partic  i  6? 

6  Gen.  iii,  24.  ?  Exod.  xix,  16—18;  Ps.  Ixviii,  14. 
8  Ileb.  i,  7. 


196  THE  CREATION  AND        CHAP.  XII. 

may  be  started.  It  may  be  asked,  why,  or  how  came  it  to 
pass,  that  the  all-good  and  all-merciful  God  did  not  admit  our 
first  parents  to  mercy;  to  repent  and  be  forgiven,  especially 
if  they  should  sin  no  more  in  the  like  manner,  but  become 
thenceforth  absolutely  obedient  to  his  word;  to  be  restored 
to  his  favour;  to  have,  without  dying,  eternal  life?  Would 
not  this  have  more  clearly  answered  our  reasonable  appre- 
hension, concerning  the  nature  of  the  goodness  of  God,  than 
that  he  should  purpose  to  allot  us  to  go  through  a  life  of  many 
sins,  and  much  original  and  acquired  infirmity;  at  last,  indeed, 
to  have  a  way  through  death,  unto  this  immortality  ?^  I  an- 
swer, an  inspired  vv^riter  has  suggested  an  answer  to  this 
query:  //",  says  he,  loe  believe  not,  yet  he  abideth  faithful ; 
he  cannot  deny  himself.^  If  God  had  denounced  that  man 
should  die,  unless  he  would  keep  the  commandment,  which 
had  been  enjoined  him,  it  could  not  be  that  he,  for  ivhom  it 
is  impossible  to  lie,^  should,  after  our  first  parents  had  herein 
transgressed,  still  admit  them  not  to  know  that  death,  which 
he  had  most  expressly  declared  against  such  transgression. 
To  this  we  may  unquestionably  add  farther,  that,  if  it  had 
not  been  most  fit,  in  the  reason  and  nature  of  things,  that  man 
now  should  die,  the  unerring  goodness  and  wisdom  of  God 
would  not  have  threatened  nor  appointed  this  punishment; 
which,  I  think,  is  suggested  by  Moses:  behold  the  man  is 
become  as  one  of  us,  to  know  good  and  evil:  and  now,  lest, 

he  live  for  ever.^     The  meaning  of  the  words  will,  I 

dare  say,  by  none  be  thought,  that  the  man,  by  eating  of  the 
forbidden  tree,  was  actually  become  wise  as  God  is  wise; 
knowing,  as  God  is  knowing.  This,  in  fact,  was  not  true; 
and,  in  the  nature  of  the  thing,  was  impossible.  But  they 
point  out  for  our  consideration,  that  the  man,  whom  God  had 
made  so  that  he  ought  to  be  kept  m  the  hand  of  God's  coun- 
sel, had  now  taken  upon  him  to  be  guided,  contrary  to  God's 
directions,  by  his  own.  The  creature  was  not  made  intrinsi- 
cally all-wise,  not  endowed  with  a  beam  of  unerring  wisdom, 
not  capable  of  being  to  himself  a  steady  dictator  in  ever}- 
thing  that  was  right,  for  the  guidance  of  his  life.'*  The  crea- 
ture, able  indeed  to  reason,  but  liable  often  to  reason  not 
aright,^  had  now  set  himself  up  to  judge,  without  dependance 
upon  what  God  had  said  or  should  say  to  him,  what  should 
be  his  good  and  what  his  evil;  and  now,  lest — he  live  for 
ever — .  The  point  here  intimated,  seems  to  be,  whether  it 
could   be   meet,  that  this  creature,   now  subject  to   vanity, 

9  Matt.  XXV,  34.  •  2  Tim.  ii,  13. 

i  Heb.  vi,  18.  3  Gen   iii,  T2. 

•*  Quartus  gradiis  et  altissimus  eonim,  qui  natura  boni  sapientesque  gig- 
iiuntur,  qiiibns  a  principio  innascitur  ratio,  recta  constansque  qus  ^upra  ho- 
minem  putanda  est,  Deoque  tribuenda.    Cic.  de  Nat.  Deor.  ubi  sup.  . 

"'  Wisdom  ii,  1. 


CHAP.  XII.  FALL  OF  MAN.  197 

should  be  indulged  with  a. peccant  immortality?  And  here, 
how  ought  we  to  consider,  that  to 

Snatch  from  God's  hand  the  balance  • 

to  venture  to  define,  contrary  to  what  is,  what  we  may  think 
might  better  have  been  his  dispensations  to  his  creatures;  to 

llejudg-e  his  justice,  be  the  God  of  God, 

Pope. 

is  a  most  blind  employment;  rather  examining  what  is  de- 
clared to  have  been,  in  fact,  his  purpose  towards  us ;  and  con- 
sidering, how,  although  he  made  man  upright,^ 


■just  and  right, 


Sufficient  to  have  stood  though  free  to  fall : 

Milton,  Par.  Lost,  b.  iii. 

Although man  had  of  God 

All  he  could  have 

Id.  ibid. 

consistently  with  his  being  a  free  agent;  I  say,  considering, 
that  although  man  was  thus  created,  yet  God,  foreknowing 
how  our  first  parents  would  abuse  their  liberty,  did  verily 
fore-ordain,  before  the  foundation  of  the  world,  a  man  to 
be  the  power  and  wisdom  of  God  unto  our  salvation.''  We 
may  reasonably  apprehend,  however  apt  we  are  to  judge 
otherwise,  that,  if  God  had  not  known  that  our  first  parents, 
in  eating  of  the  tree,  had  begun  a  thought,  which  (whilst  they 
and  their  posterity  remained  free  agents)  would  not  be  so 
changed  as  we  may  imagine;  he  would  not  have  denounced 
nor  executed  upon  man  that  sentence  of  death,  which  obtains 
against  us.  We  may  observe  farther,  that,  if  this  is  indeed 
the  appointment  of  God,  as  we  have  all  reason  to  say  of  all 
that  is  so. 


"Whatever  is,  is  right  • 


so  it  must  unquestionably  be  true,  that,  if  there  could  have 
been  some  better  way  provided  for  us,  than  what  is  appointed, 
such  way  would  have  been  given  to  us.  But  since  this  is  the 
way,  and  we  can  prove  from  the  Scriptures,  that  we  may,  if 
we  will,  through  this  dispensation  of  God  towards  us,  come  at 
length  to  an  eternal  life;^  hence  we  rightly  conclude,  that  al- 
though it  doth  not  yet  appear  what  we  shall  be,^  nor  how 

6  Eccles.  vii,  29. 

'  See  Romans  i,  26 ;  1  Cor.  i,  24 ;  1  Pet.  i,  20. 

*  As  in  matters  of  speculation  and  philosophical  inquiry,  the  only  judge  of 
what  is  right  or  wrong  is  reason  and  experience ;  so,  in  matters  either  of  hu- 
man testimony  or  divine  revelation,  the  only  certain  rule  of  truth  is  the  testi- 
mony  of  the  revelation  itself.  Clark's  Scriptui-e  Doctrine  of  the  Trinit}-,  In^ 
troduction. 

9  1  John  iii,  2. 

Vol.  IV.  C  c 


198  THK  CREATIOX  AND  CHAP.  XIl. 

every  particular  of  God's  appointments  doth  conspire  to  con- 
nect and  make  up  the  one  universal  design  of  Him,  of  iv horn 
the  whole  family  o/the  Heavens  and  the  Earth  is  named ;^ 
3'et  nothing  can  be  more  commendable  in  us,  than  to  believe 
and  confess,  that  both  great  and  marvellous  are  thy  works. 
Lord  God  Almighty  !  and  Just  and  true  are  thy  ways, 
thou  King  of  saints.^ 

A  consequence  of  the  Fall,  I  apprehend,  must  have  been, 
that  a  depravity  of  the  mind  of  man  gradually  arose,  and  was 
occasioned  by  it.  God,  at  first,  made  man  upright,  jashar, 
?iot  inclined  to  any  evil;^  but  man  was,  when  thus  upright, 
to  be  immortal."*  After  the  transgression,  our  first  parents 
were  to  die :  they  had  now,  in  the  body,  what  would  by  de- 
grees bring  them  to  decline,  and,  in  the  end,  effect  their  dis- 
solution; and  a  body,  become,  thus  corruptible,  jji^esseth 
down  the  soul  ;^ 


prxgravat  una 


Atque  affigit  humo  divinx  paiticulam  aurse. 

Hon. 

It  will  introduce  affections  grosser  and  less  pure;  irregular  and 
distempered;  other  than  they  would  have  known,  had  they 
never  been  incumbered  with  such  a  decaying  tabernacle.  The 
sages  of  the  heathen  world  would  readily  have  admitted  this 
truth.  St.  Paul  himself,  in  describing  the  state  of  the  unre- 
generate  man,  speaking  in  this  person,  saith,  /  kyioiv  that  in 
me,  that  is,  in  my  flesh,  dwelleth  no  good  thing  ;  fo7'  to  will 
is  present  with  me,  but  how  to  perform,  that  which  is  good, 
I  find  not ;  but  the  evil,  ivhich  I  would  not,  that  I  do.^ 
This  is  hardly  more  express  than  Plato  ;^  who  says,  "As  long 
as  we  have  the  body,  and  our  soul  is  intermixed  with  such  an 
evil,  we  shall  never  satisfactorily  possess  ourselves  even  of 
what  we  desire."  The  philosopher,  we  see,  and  others  who 
followed  him,  would  readily  have  allowed,  that  it  is  of  the 
utmost  consequence  to  a  divine  spirit,  whether  it  be  joined  to 
a  mortal  or  an  immortal  body.^  Our  first  parents  might  have 
had  in  the  heart,  in  that  ivhich  was  not  corruptible,^  what 
might  render  them  superior  in  affections  and  inclinations  tw 


1  Ephes.  iii,  15  : 

Man,  who  here  seems  principal  alone. 

Perhaps  acts  second  to  some  sphere  unknown. 
Touches  some  wheel,  or  verges  to  some  goal : 
'TJs  but  a  part  we  see,  and  not  a  whole. 

Pope. 

2  Rev.  XV,  3.  '  Sup.  7o,  &c.  ^  Vide  qux  sup. 
5  Wisdom  ix,  15.                  6  Rom.  vii,  18,  19. 

HMca,  ou  junn-cri  )crii^a>fxi():t  'tKtivm!  on  iTt^jugjuiv .     Plat,  in  Phaed. 

8  Ipsi  animi,  magni  est,  quali  in  corpore,  locati  sint — Tanta  vis  est  ad  habi- 
tum  mentis  in  iis,  quae  gignuntur  in  corpore.  Cic,  in  Tusc  Disputat.  lib  i. 
C.33. 

9  See  1  Pet.  iii,  4- 


CHAP.  XII.  FALL  OF  MAN.  199 

what  naturally  became  their  appetites,  when  a  bondage  of 
coi^ruption  began  to  work  in  them,  a  nature  below  the  liberty 
of  the  sons  of  Gon,^  We  may,  herein,  easily  reconcile  the 
Scriptures  with  true  philosophy ;  for  the  body  and  the  soul 
are  so  intimately  joined  in  our  composition,  that  both  must 
have  a  considerable  influence,  the  one  upon  the  other;  and 
having  herein  intimated  what  our  first  parents  now  became,  it 
is  obvious,  that,  as  was  the  tree,  such  must  be  the  branches ; 
that,  henceforth  there  would  be  no  natural  descendant  from 
these  now  mortals,  who  would  not  have  in  him  a  sensuality 
of  nature,^  such  as  must  render  it  very  reasonable,  not  only  to 
a  master  in  Israel,^  but  to  any  one,  who  duly  estimates  the 
composition  of  man,  admit  what  our  Saviour  argued,  namely, 
that  we  must  be  bor)i  again,  if  we  would  see  the  kingdom  of 
God.'*  Our  first  parents  now  came  to  have,  and  their  descen- 
dants to  be  born  to,  that  duplicity  of  nature  elegantly  de- 
scribed by  Plato,^  as  well  considered  by  St.  Paul.^  Mankind 
came  now  to  have  inclinations  arising  from  the  body;  which 
would  often  run  contrary  to  the  better  sense  of  the  mind  ;  and 
give  every  one  the  unhappiness  to  know  of  himself  in  looking 
back  upon  his  life,  that  he  had  done,  thought,  and  said,  so 
many  things  below  what  his  own  mind  and  sentiments  would 
tell  him  ought  and  might  have  been  his  conduct,^  as  to  see  in 
himself  as  clearly  as  in  a  glass,  that  we  greatly  want  to  be  de- 
livered from  a  body  of  si?i.^  In  this  point,  therefore,  reason 
and  revelation  agree,  and  bear  testimony  to  one  another;  that 
we  are,  in  fact,  imperfect,  not  only  in  our  knowledge,  but  still 
more  imperfect,  in  oftentimes  having  a  will  not  to  act  so  well 
as  we  know  it  to  be  our  duty.  The  history  of  Moses  pro- 
ceeds to  show  this  in  the  actions  of  men;  particularly,  that 
before  Adam  came  t«  be  a  hundred  and  thirty  years  old,  evil 


'  See  Romans  vlii,  21.  ^/utt  ^t  tsto,  u^uSk'  y.vptd.c  /utv  yup  ri/utv  da-yohut; 
■^dLfiyii  TO  crooy.aL — ifxTTcfi^istriv  i/A.mv  ThV  tk  ovrog  ^>ipa.v'  ipcermv  t6  ksu  (viSuumf 
x.xt  ^oCcev  KHi  ilStuKav  TrunoSotTruv,  tcm  pwaptai;  t/A7rifj(7r\ii(riv  ifAn;  ttoxahC  us^  to 
>.iryofA.iv(jv  u(  cc\>f^a>;  TO)  mri  utt'  cuith  ouJe  fpuna-ui  »/Mv  'eyyiyvtrcu  ouiiTrori  ovSfv, 
Plato  ubi  sup. 

2  The  XXXIX  Articles  :  see  Art.  ix. 

3  See  John  iii,  10. 

*  Ver.  3. 

5  AiTTXn;  ii  oiiT>\(  TH;  dv5'pu-rivii;  (putrUnQ,  to  KpuTTOv  I'n  ytvo;  toi^stoy,  J  y.tt  iTrWrn. 
AiKKxaono  ccvup'  ojtots  cT^  (ra\uoi.<riv  ijutpwriu^iiiv,  e^  a.yciyK»i  ksu  to  //sv  -vpoa-tot,  to  Si 
BiTrtot  TX  o-ai/xaToc  cLVTcev,  Trpcerov  yiv  aLia-d->i<riv  dvetyK^m  eiii  /uictv  ■xa.tnv  'mu  fiuumv 
7rst^iiy,a.raiV   ^v/A.ipuTov    yiyii^^etf   Siwipov  Si  iiSovif  km  KU7ry\  f/.ifj.iyy.iir^Y  ikpeeTU.    7rpc( 

Si   T8T0/C    ipoQoV    KM    ^UfXOV,   D<TU.    T£    iTTOfAlVi    StUTS/C    KM    mo<T!t    SVaCT/ffi?    Ttiip-JKi  SK^ltr^' 

cSv  t\  //£V  x.p^tTHo-iiu.v,  h  SiKv  (iiot)<TotvTo,  Kp-jLTn^iVTH  Si  dSiKid.     PLito  in  Timxo. 

6  Rom.  vii,  23. 

'  1  Kings  viii,  46 ;  James  iii,  2 ;    1  John  i,  8. 

'Aurap  dv>tp  ayuBo;,  tots  /xiv  ksiko;,  akkoti  S'  isrSxo;. 
yivij-^M  fAiv  dvSpd.   a'^aS-sf    ^^nKiirov    elK>i^ia>c,    ohv    ti   fAiv  rat  iTtt  ^s    ^piviv  Tiya' 
yivof/.ivov  Si  Stafxivuv  iv  rauTVj  tw  i^it,  kxi  i'lvctt  dyu^ov — aJvvoLT'jV  K*i  mx,  dY^cmnny, 
dxKtt  9%,c  a'v  fxovoi  TjfTO  e;^c;  to  yipu.;.     Plat,  in  Protag. 

*  See  Rom,  vii,  24. 


JiOO  THE  CREATION  AND  CHAP.  XII. 

had  got  such  an  ascendant,  where  it  had  been  indulged,'  that 
one  of  Adam's  children  became  a  murderer  and  slew  his 
brother.^ 

But  Moses  mentions  one  particular  more,  which  I  have 
not  considered.  He  tells  us,  unto  Adam  also,  and  to  his 
luife,  did  the  Lord  God  make  coats  of  skins,  and  clothed 
them?  I  would  observe,  1.  That  the  word,  which  we  render 
skins,  is  in  the  singular  number,  a  skin,^  not  skins,  in  the 
plural  ;  and  that  we  have  no  reason,  from  the  Hebrew  text, 
to  put  in  the  particle  of.  The  verse  verbally  translated  is, 
and  the  Lord  God  m.ade  a  skin  coat  for  the  man  and  his 
luife,  and  clothed  them,^  The  fact  was ;  God  now  appointed 
them  to  use  the  skin  of  a  beast  for  clothing,  not,  I  apprehend, 
manufactured  into  coats ;  improvements  of  this  sort,  undoubt- 
edly, were  afterwards  introduced.  Our  first  parents  did  no 
more  than  put  about  them  the  skin  of  some  beast,  as  we  read 
the  early  inhabitants  of  other  countries,  and  in  later  ages  of 
the  world,  did,^  whenever  they  wanted  such  a  clothing.  2. 
Although  the  verse  we  are  now  treating  stands  prior  to  God's 
putting  Adam  and  Eve  out  of  the  garden,  and  the  end  of 
the  verse  says,  that  God  clothed  them  ;  yet  I  do  not  conceive 
that  Moses  here  hints  that  God  instantly  clothed  them  and 
sent  them  into  the  world.  The  Hebrew  word,  vejalbasham, 
and  clothed  thcin^  is  the  future  tense,  with  vau  prefixed  ; 
which  prefix  the  grammarians  observe,  turns  such  future  tense 
into  a  perfect,  or  to  speak  the  thing  treated  of  as  being  actually 
done.  I  may  observe,  that  all  the  verbs  used  in  this  and  the 
verses  following,  he  made  coats  ;  clothed  them  ;  sent  them 
forth  ;  drove  out  the  man  ;  are  thus  in  the  future  tense  with 
vau.'^  May  we  not  understand  the  reason  of  the  piece  of 
grammar  just  above  hinted.''  Some  ancient  writers  imagine, 
that  our  first  parents  were  permitted  to  stay  some  little  time 
In  the  garden  before  they  were  put  out  of  it  into  the  world  f 

*"  Cain,  undoubtedly,  did  not  come  at  once  to  that  outrageous  wickedness  of 
killing  his  brother.  lie  liad  been  a  bad  man  before  in  many  evil  actions ; 
which  Moses  hints  in  wliat  he  records  of  God  expostidating  with  Cain,  Gen.  iv, 
7.  And  the  apostle  farther  observes  it  in  1  John  lii,  12.  Cain — slew  his  bro- 
ther. .inil~.uhcrrfure  sle~.u  he  him?  Because  his  oiv?i  works  viere  evil,  and  his 
brother's  righteous. 

»  Gen.iv.  "  Chap  iii,  21.  ^  .,,j,^  pellis. 

<  The  Hebrew  words  of  the  text  arc, 

tunicas  et  mulieri  ejus  Adamo    Deus  Dominus  et  fecit 

ct  am)civit  eos.     pellem 

fiii;  xpi'^^'^'-     Dioilor.  Sic.  lib.  i,  p.  14. 

uti 

rcllibus,  et  corpus  spoliis  vestire  ferarum. 

LucnET.  lib.  v. 

Syncel.  p.  8, 


CHAP.  XII.  FALL  OF  MAN.  201 

may  not  these  future  tenses,  with  the  vau  prefixed,  hint 
something  of  this  sort?  The  clothing  them,  the  sending 
them  out  of  the  garden,  &c.  were  things  absolutely  and  ac- 
tually done  ;  but  some  process  of  time,  to  instruct  and  pre- 
pare them  for  it,  might  be  taken  up,  before  it  was  completed  ; 
and  may  not  the  future  tenses,  with  vau  prefixed,  hint  this? 
The  things  spoken  of  had  their  execution  ;  but  not  instantly 
at  once  ;  but  proceeded  gradually  to  be  effected,  as  God  thought 
fit  to  have  them  dispatched.  If  we  may  take  them  in  this 
sense,  we  shall  easily  find  an  answer,  3.  To  what  is  or  may 
be  queried  upon  the  occasion ;  how  should  our  first  parents 
get  possession  of  the  skins  of  beasts,  and  make  them  fit  for 
the  uses  they  were  to  make  of  them  ?  I  answer ;  I  appre- 
hend, God  at  this  time  appointed  sacrifices;^  and  if  so,  as  he 
afterwards  gave  Moses  directions  for  the  passover,  and  for 
other  institutions  of  the  Jewish  law;^  so  he  now  might  give 
our  first  parents  such  instructions  as  they  must  have  wanted, 
and  which  might  suggest  all  they  wanted  to  know  upon  the 
occasion  now  before  them.  However,  I  must  remark,  in  ge- 
neral, that  we  consider  things  with  a  judgment  dull  and  unob- 
serving,  if  we  can  allow  the  mind  of  man  no  invention,  but 
as  we  can  trace  and  mark  out  the  steps  which  lead  to  it.  How 
Tubal  Cain  came  to  find  out  brass  and  iron,  and  the  ways  of 
working  them ;  or  how  Jubal  became^  a  master  of  music,  is 
not  to  be  investigated  in  this  manner.  Our  minds  are 
too  lr\^ely  to  be  accounted  for  by  such  stated  deductions. 
Incidental  sentiments  often  stir  in  us,  we  know  not  whence 
nor  how ;  and  lead  us  frequently  to  consequences  as  unex- 
pected. They  open  to  us  trials  and  experiments,  which  pro- 
duce what  we  had  no  thought  of,  even  whilst  we  were  pur- 
suing them  ;  and  many  times,  before  we  are  aware,  throw  us 
upon  what  we  had  no  intention  or  even  notion  of  seeking. 
The  best  heathen  writers  were  ready  to  acknowledge,  that  the 
rise  of  the  useful  and  important  inventions  of  their  lives^  had 
been  from  God  ;  and  we  can  never  reason  about  these  things, 
but  we  shall  find  it  the  best  philosoph}^,  as  well  as  religion, 
not  only  to  acknowledge  every  good  and  perfect  gift,'^  in 
all  our  endowments,  as   having  come  down  from  him,  in 


Abatus. 
but.  He  also,  whose  incorruptible  spirit  is  in  all  things,^' 
is  often  the  author  of  many  happy  turns  of  our  mind,  which 
lead  us,  in  what  we  are   apt  to  call  fortunate  thoughts,  unto 
great  and  useful  discoveries;  which,  if  we  had  been  without 

»  See  Connect,  vol.  i,  b.  ii,  p.  72. 

See  F>xod.  xii,  &c.  2  Gen.  iv. 

1  Plato  in  I'olit.  4  Jarnes  i,  17. 

i  Acts  xvii,  28.  <i  Wisdom  xii,  1 


202  THE  CREATION  AND  CHAP.  XII, 

Him  in  the  world,  might  never  have  been  made  or  conceived 
by  us.  But,  4.  I  cannot  apprehend  that  our  first  parents  had 
been  so  unthinking,  that  common  sense  would  not  have  led 
them,  after  a  very  little  experience  of  their  now  condition, 
both  to  know  it  decent  to  have,  and  to  invent  a  covering  for 
themselves.  What  they  did,  when  their  fears  alarmed  them 
to  wish  to  hide  themselves  from  God,^  may  suggest,  what 
they  naturally  would  have  done,  to  be  clothed  in  the  sight  of 
one  another.  Wreaths  of  greens,  foliages,  and  flowers,  might 
have  been  variously  combined  to  make  them  ornamental 
habits  ;  and  we  may  indulge  our  imagination  in  saying,  that 
even  Solomon  in  all  his  glory  might  not  be  arrayed,  beyond 
what  Eve,  after  a  little  trial  and  experience,  might  be  able  to 
decorate  herself  in  these.  The  climate  likewise  wherein  they 
lived  might  perhaps  be  such,  that  a  clothing  of  this  nature 
might  be  sometimes  more  agreeable,  than  to  be  always  in  a 
closer  and  warmer  covering.  But  if  it  be  considered,  how- 
soon  leaves  and  flowers  would  fade  away;  that  a  dress  of  long 
endurance  could  not  be  had  from  these  materials  ;  and  that 
the  labour  and  other  cares  of  their  lives  would  not  admit 
them  to  lay  out  all  their  time  in  this  one  particular ;  not  to 
say,  that  a  covering  of  this  sort  might  not  serve  in  all 
weathers,  but  at  some  seasons,  at  least,  a  better  shelter  must 
have  been  a  happy  and  necessary  accommodation  ;  leaving 
our  first  parents  to  add  any  ornament  they  should  like,  as 
circumstances  might  admit;  the  provision  which  God  was 
pleased  to  make  for  them  was  such,  that  we  cannot  see  how 
they  could  continue  to  live  long  without  it. 

I  have  now  carried  this  undertaking  to  the  utmost  extent, 
which  I  proposed  to  give  it.  It  contains,  I  think,  an  account 
of  all  that  Moses  has  related  of  the  Creation  and  Fall  of  Man. 
It  will  perhaps  be  asked,  did  God  only  clothe  them  ?  Was 
his  care  such  as  to  provide  for  them  in  this  lesser,  and  did  he 
not  instruct  them  in  greater  and  more  important  matters.-*  I 
answer,  undoubtedly  he  did  ;  and,  I  apprehend,  that  both 
Moses  suggested,  and  subsequent  Scriptures  confirm  it,  that 
God  gave  them  a  method  for  repentance  and  obtaining  pardon 
of  their  sins ;  and,  some  time  before  Adam  died,  set  before 
them  hopes  of  another  world.  But  to  proceed  in  treating  of 
these,  would  be  to  begin  a  new  subject.  All  I  proposed 
herein,  was  to  examine  what  Moses  has  said  concerning  the 
Creation  and  Fall,  and  what  possible  objections  may  be  made 
to  his  narration.  I  think  I  have  omitted  none  of  any  moment; 
for  of  some,  which  are  pretended,  surely,  consistently  with 
the  greatest  candour,  we  may  say,  that  they  need  not  be 
mentioned,  being  too  frivolous  to  want  an  answer.  One,  at 
least,  of  this  kind   I  find  in  Dr.  Burnet ;  who  asks,  "  What 

7  Gen.  iii,  10. 


CHAP.  XII.  FALL  OF  MAN.  203 

if  Adam  had  not  sinned  ?  could  all  his  descendants  have  come 
from  all  parts  of  the  world,  in  all  ages,  to  eat  of  the  one  tree 
of  life,  planted  in  the  garden  of  Eden  ?  or  could  this  one  tree 
have  been  sufficient  for  all  times,  and  for  all  nations?"^  It  is 
most  obvious,  1.  That,  supposing  Adam  had  persevered  to  live 
according  to  the  word  of  God,  until  he  should  have  been  com- 
manded to  eat  of  the  tree  of  life,  we  cannot  say  whether,  as 
now  in  Adam  all  have  died,  in  such  case,  all  mankind  de- 
scended of  immortal  parents  would  not  have  been  immortal. 
Or,  2.  It  must  be  evident,  that  as  God  knew  beforehand, 
what  events  would  happen  in  all  things ;  it  is  undeniable,  that 
he  might  foresee,  when,  and  how  long  it  would  be  before  our 
first  parents  would  transgress ;  and  that  the  appointments  he 
had  made  would  be  sufficient  for  what  would  be  the  duration 
of  that  state  of  mankind  for  which  they  were  appointed.  3. 
That  if  mankind  had  not  fallen,  but  proceeded  to  walk  with 
God  according  to  his  laws,  until  they  had  become  so  instructed 
in  all  knowledge,  and  rooted  in  all  truth,  as  never  to  swerve 
from  it ;  if  the  partaking  of  some  sign  of  immortality  had  been 
thought  fit  to  be  commanded  for  them,  in  using  it  to  walk 
humbly  ivith  God,^  not  arrogating  immortality  to  themselves 
as  their  own ;  but  receiving  it,  as  it  was,  indeed,  his  gift ; 
as  we  have  considered,  that  the  tree  of  life  had  no  innate 
virtue  in  itself  to  give  life,^  but  could  be  of  moment  only,  as 
it  was  the  commandment  of  God;  so  God  might,  as  men  mul- 
tiplied and  dispersed,  have  at  sundry  times,  and  in  divers 
manners,  given  other  commands,  other  signs  for  this  purpose, 
as  necessary  and  beneficial,  just  as  he  should  be  pleased  by  his 
word  to  appoint,  according  to  what  he  saw  most  fit  for  distant 
and  different  parts  of  the  world,  in  the  counsel  of  his  own 
will. 

I  am  aware  that  some  may  treat  it  as  a  topic  of  ridicule,  to 
imagine  that  God  made  man  so  weak  a  creature  as  to  want  his 
Creator  at  every  turn  an  admonisher  at  his  elbow.^  But  we 
may  readily  reply,  that  to  dress  a  proposition  in  ludicrous 
terms,  and  then  laugh  at  it,  is  laughing  at  the  dress  we  give 
it ;  but  does  not  really  affect  what  ought  not  to  be  treated  with 
so  fanciful  a  levity.  To  consider  rationally  the  order  and 
gradation  of  God's  works,  will,  I  think,  abundantly  show  us, 
that  man  ought  to  be,^  as  fact  and  experience  agree  to  testify 
that  he  really  is,  a  creature  higher  than,  and  above  the  blinder 
instinct  of  animal  life.  But  to  say  hereupon,  that  man  was 
made  so  perfect,  as  to  want  no  guidance  but  his  own,  is  a  step 


8  Prseterea,  si  ex  una  arbore,  vel  ipsius  fructu,  perpendisset  longxvltas  vel 
immortalitas  hominura,  quid  si  noii  peccasset  Adamus  ?  Qui  potuissent  ipsius 
posteri  per  totum  terrarum  orbem  dlffusi  fauctus  repetere  ex  hoc  horto,  vel 
ab  hac  arbore  ?  aut  qui  potuisset  sufficere  toti  humano  generi  unius  arboris 
proventus  ?    Archaeol.  p.  292. 

9  Micah  vi,  8.  •  Vide  quse  sup. 

2  Dr-  Middleton's  Inquiry,  p.  102.  '  See  above,  chap.  vi. 


204  THE  CREATION  AND  CHAP.  XU. 

at  once  to  a  height  of  wisdom,  which  may  be  many  ranks 
above  us  in  the  intellectual  world. ^  That  there  is  a  prodigious 
difference,  between  the  abilities  of  even  different  men,  is 
most  apparent ;  and  it  is  most  evidently  reasonable,  that  it 
should  be  so ;  that  in  the  progressive  order  of  each  rank  of 
being  above  that  which  is  beneath  it,  some  should  descend 
almost  to  the  species  of  those  next  below  them,  as  others 
may,  on  the  other  hand,  be  raised  to  a  near  approach  unto  the 
orb  above  them.  There  may  be,  there  ought  to  be,  and  there 
are,  some  men,  such,  that  it  were  to  be  wished  they  never 
would  act  without  an  admonisher  at  their  elbow.  But,  on  the 
contrary,  to  say  of  the  most  intelligent  of  men,  of  those  who 
have  the  most  exalted  human  understanding,  that  they  have 
a  self-sufficiency  of  wisdom,  above  all  want  of  superior  di- 
rection, is 

to  think  beyond  mankind. 

Pope. 

It  is  to  think  ourselves  possessed  of  powers,  which  are  beyond 
that  line,  which  is  our  boundary  ;  our  nature  does  not  reach 
to  this  height  : 

Our  reason  raise  o'er  instinct  as  you  can  ; 
In  this  'tis  God  directs ;  in  that,  but  man. 

Pope, 

In  our  degree  we  have  real  perfections  both  of  body  and 
mind;  the  body  has  its  eye,  the  mind  its  understanding;  both 
which  are  of  excellent  use  and  direction  :  but  to  say  of  either, 
that  they  are  so  perfect  as  not  in  any  point  to  want  aid,  or  as- 
sistance, is  insupportable  and  absurd.  The  eye  of  the  body 
is  able,  in  many  cases,  intuitively 

curvo  dignoscere  rectum 

Hob. 

to  distinguish  a  straight  line  from  a  crooked  ;  but  shall  we 
say  of  any  man,  that  he  has  so  sharp  and  unerring  a  sight 
(however  some  may  excel  others  in  this  particular,)  as  to  be 
able,  without  line,  rule,  or  measure,  by  his  eye  alone,  to 
raise  a  various  fabric,  just,  straight,  upright,  and  regular  in 
all  true  dimensions  ?  It  is  the  same  with  the  understanding, 
the  eye  of  the  mind  :  we  may  be  able,  by  our  reason,  to  de- 
duce and  judge  aright  of  many  moral  duties  ;  but  if  we  say 
of  the  best  human  reason,  that  it  ever  did,  without  any  rule 
but  its  own  direction,  raise  the  true  fabric  of  all  moral  virtue  f 

*  Qiiartus  autem  gradus,  et  altissimus  est,  corum  qui  natura  boni  sapien- 
tesque  gignuntur;  quibus  a  principio  innascitur  ratio  recta  constansque,  qux 
supra  hominem  putanda  est,  Deoque  tribiienda.  Cic.  de  Nat,  Ueor,  lib.  ii, 
c.  13. 

5  Ut  sine  ullo  errore  dijudicarepossimus,  siqu.indo  cum  illo,  quod  honestum 
intelligimus,  pugnare  id  videbitur,  quod  appcllamus  utile,  formula  quxdam 
Goiistituenda  est :  quam  si  sequemur  in  comparatione  rerum,  ab  officio  ntin' 
quam  recedemus.  Cic.  dc  Offic.  lib.  iii,  c,  4. 


CHAP.  XII.  FALL  OF  MAN.  205 

we  must  produce  something  to  warrant  such  assertion,  beyond 
what  either  the  ancient  inquirers,  or  our  modern  reasoners, 
have  been  able  to  evince.  The  wisest  masters  of  the  Greek 
learning  could  not  fix  the  criterion  by  which  they  might 
know  what  was  only  human  sentiment,  and  what  more  surely 
was  real  truth. *"  The  Roman  philosophy  was  as  indetermi- 
nate ;  the  quid  est  virtus — the  very  exemplar  honesti,  was 
what  they  were  not  able  indisputably  to  ascertain.^  They 
wanted  some  test,  whereby  they  might  settle,  how  to  distin- 
guish in  the  several  duties  of  life,  wherein  reason  and  right 
reason  might  happen  to  differ  from  one  another.^  And  it  is 
as  remarkable  of  all  our  modern  moralists,^  that,  however 
they  show  a  great  want  of  precision,  of  determinate  and  in- 
disputable direction  each  in  one  another's  rule  or  standard, 
they  are  every  one  at  last  exactly  as  deficient  in  their  own.^ 

The  word  of  God  is  truth  f  which  was  to  have  been  the 
rule  of  truth  in  all  moral  and  religious  duty,  to  our  first  pa- 
rents and  to  their  descendants :  and  a  good  understanding 
would  have  prevailed  amongst  them,  if  they  had  carefully 
acted  according  to  its  direction.^  Through  the  precepts  of 
God,  as  they  more  and  more  improved  in  knowledge,  they 
would  have  seen  the  error  of  every  false  way :  and,  in  time, 
have  been  able  to  delineate  the  true  religion  of  our  nature 
according  to  it.  But,  although  God  gave  them  his  instruc- 
tions, we  must  not  represent,  that  he  was  minutely  at  their 
elbow,  to  leave  them  in  nothing  to  themselves,  in  reason  to 
consider  things  ;  for  Moses  in  nowise  describes  them  in  this 
manner.  God  gave  our  first  parents  one  command  to  be  a 
rule  for  them,  how  they  were  to  walk  humbly  with  him."* 
He  gave  them  one  more  to  be  the  foundation  of  their  relative 
duty  to  one  another,^  and  he  afterwards  gave  like  precepts 
in  other  particulars.  If  now  they  had  made  these  their  faith  j 
to  receive  and  believe  them,  and  to  square  their  lives  accord- 
ing to  them ;  herein  they  would  have  had  an  abundant  direc- 
tion, and  would  not  have  erred,  if  they  would  not  vary  and 


*  E/  fMv  vwc  Kiu  ^o^a.  etxuSui;  ig-ov  S'uo  yevn,  Plato  in  Timaeo.  iujuev  etv^'femss 
So^ct^iiv  «  TTOTi  fjiiv  uKu^n,  TTOTt  <fs  Kdit  -^iuSh-  Plato  ill  Thcjetct. 

7  Sentit  domus  iiniuscuj usque,  sentit  Ibrum,  sentit  curia,  campi,  socli,  pro- 
vincix,  ut  quemadmodum  ratione,  recte  fiat,  sic  ratione  peccetur.  Cic.de  Nat, 
Deor.  lib.  iii,  c.  27.  The  author  of  the  book  of  Wisdom  suggests  the  difference. 
"We  may  reason,  but  not  aright.  Wisdom  ii,  1. 

s  The  test  wanted  is,  by  what  shall  we  know  when  we  reason  aright,  and 
when  not?  "A  Deo,"  says  the  disputant  in  TuUy,  "  rationem  habemus,  bo- 
nam  aut  non  bonam  a  nobis."  Cic.  de  Nat.  Deor.  lib.  iii.  We  want  a  standard 
whereby  to  judge  when  we  make  our  reason  tlie  one,  and  when  the  other. 

9  Mr.  Brown,  in  his  very  excellent  Essay  on  the  Motives  to  Virtue,  rightly 
observes,  that  our  modern  moralists  have  said  little  more  than  what  might  be 
transcribed  from  the  old  Greek  philosophers,  and  from  TuUy,  after  them, 
p.  122. 

»  See  Mr.  Brown's  Essay.  2  Psalm  cxix,  142;  John  xvii,  17. 

■1  Psalm  cxi,  10;  cxix,  104.  -»  Micah  vi,  8;  Gen.  ii,  17. 

"•  Ver.  24. 

V^oi,.  IV  D  d 


206  THE  CKEATION,  &C.  CHAP.  XII. 

decline  from  it.  To  have  added  knowledge  to  their  faith, 
as  the  incidents  arose,  which  might  afford  them  instruction, 
would  liave  been  their  reasonable  duty,  as  it  is  ours  f  and  a 
great  field  for  them  herein  to  exercise  themselves  must  have 
opened  daily  unto  them.  For  we  cannot  suppose  that  they 
were  so  insensible,  as  to  think  nothing  to  be  their  duty,  but 
barely  to  observe  literally  the  points  commanded  them,  and 
no  more.  They  \vere  to  see,  and  would  see  every  thing  to 
be  wrong,  which  would  make  their  lives  run  counter  to  the 
intention  of  what  was  directed.  The  being  forbidden  to  eat 
of  one  particular  tree,  enjoined  our  first  parents  not  only  to 
abstain  from  the  fruit  of  a  tree  ;^  but  in  every  thing,  when- 
ever and  wherein  soever  God  commanded,  they  were  to  obey 
his  voice  ;  as  the  being  obliged  never  to  separate  from  one 
another^  must  show,  that  it  was  their  duty  to  consider,  and  be 
rationally  such  in  their  conduct,  as  to  live  suitably  to  this  in- 
dissoluble tie ;  that  what  God  had  made  the  indispensable 
condition,  they  should  for  themselves  make  the  real  happiness 
of  their  life.  Thus  it  can  in  nowise  be  said,  that  revelation 
hath  superseded  reason  ;  but  that,  from  the  beginning,  it  hath 
been  no  more  than  the  necessary  aid,  without  which  human 
nature  could  not  be  made  perfect.  It  was  given  to  be  a  lamj) 
to  our  feet,  and  a  light  to  our  paths ;  to  give  us  what,  in 
Tully's  language,  we  might  say  are  the  formulae,^  to  mark 
to  us  the  points,  which,  if  we  had  been  made  creatures  of  a 
higher  intellect,  we  might  have  intuitively  seen  for  ourselves, 
in  looking  into  the  nature  of  things.  But,  if  they  had  not 
been  given  to  such  creatures  as  we  are,  if  we  had  nothing  to 
direct  our  judgment  but  the  fruits  of  tlie  tree  of  our  own 
knowledge  of  good  and  evil,  we  should,  not  only  from  the 
present  bias  of  our  appetites,  but  from  (what  man  was  subject 
to  from  the  beginning)  mistakes  of  understanding,  not  have 
found  or  pursued,  so  as  to  be  such  as  we  ought,  in  this  world: 
or  be  able  justly  to  satisfy  ourselves,  how  we  might  be  meet 
for  a  better. 

e  2  Peter  5,  5. 

'  Were  we  to  conceive  that  our  first  parents  could  have  imag-ined,  that,  ii 
they  but  abstained  from  eating-  of  the  tree,  they  duly  observed  the  law  of 
God,  though  in  other  points  they  did  not  live  according'  to  tlie  tlircctions  of 
tlieir  Maker ;  it  is  evident,  that  they  would  herein  have  kept  only  the  form  of 
their  religion,  without  admitting  its  power  and  influence.  I?ut  nothing  can 
be  more  contrary  to  reason  than  this,  or  more  severely  reprimanded  in  the  holy 
Scriptures,  both  of  the  Old  and  New  Testament. 

8  Gen.  ii,  24. 

s  Jura,  formula  dc  omnibus  rebus  constitutae,  ncquis  aut  in  genere  injurire, 
aut  in  ratione  actionis  errare  possit,    Cic,  Orat.  pro  Q.  Uoscio  Comoedo. 


SUPPLEMENT 


TO 


TO  THE  PRECEDING  DISSERTATION. 


THOUGH  the  preceding  hypothesis  of  Dr.  Shuckford,  con- 
cerning The  Creation  and  Fall  of  Man,  is  supported  with 
considerable  ingenuity  and  learning,  yet  it  is  so  very  discor- 
dant from  generally  received  and  long  established  opinionsj 
that  there  is  some  reason  to  fear  that  most  readers  will  hesi- 
tate to  receive  it,  as  having  its  foundation  in  reason  and 
truth. 

To  represent  man,  when  just  coming  from  the  hand  of  his 
all-perfect  Creator,  as  little  better  than  the  most  uncultivated 
savage;  knowing  little  or  nothing  of  his  being  and  its  end, 
and  having  almost  every  thing  to  learn  from  the  slow  pro- 
gress of  experience;  ill  accords  with  the  opinions  of  almost 
all  religious  people,  on  the  original  state  and  perfection  of 
man. 

Foreseeing,  that  these  particulars  of  the  author's  Creed 
will  give  but  little  satisfaction  to  many ;  the  Editor  begs  leave 
to  close  the  preceding  Dissertation  with  the  following  extract 
of  a  Discourse  by  the  learned  Vitringa  on  the  Tree  of  the 
Knowledge  of  Good  and  Evil.  Observ.  Sacr.  tome  ii,  lib.  iv. 
c.  12, 


On  the  Tree  of  the  Knowledge  of  Good  and  Evil. 


THE  passages,  on  which  the  present  inquiry  is  founded, 
are  in  the  second  chapter  of  Genesis,  ver.  9,  17.  Out  of  the 
ground  made  the  Lord  God  to  grow  every  tree,  that  is  plea- 
sant to  the  sight,  and  good  for  food :  the  tree  of  life  also  in 
the  midst  of  the  garden :  and  the  tree  of  knowledge  of  good 
and  evil — and  the  Lord  God  commanded  the  man,  saying, 
of  the  tree  of  the  knowledge  of  good  and  evil  thou  shall  not 
eat  of  it ;  for  in  the  day  that  thou  eatest  thereof  thou  shalt 
fiurely  die. 

We  propose  to  show  why  this  tree  was  denominated  the 
tree  of  the  knoioledge  of  good  and  evil ;  and  what  was  the 
design  of  prohibiting  the  use  of  it  to  our  first  parents. 

The  current  opinion,  respecting  i\\e.  first  of  these  points,  is, 
that  the  tree  received  its  denomination  from  the  event ;  be- 
cause our  first  parents,  having  fallen  in  consequence  of  eating 
of  its  fruit,  knew,  by  experience,  the  good  which  they  had 
lost,  and  the  evil  which  they  had  incurred. 

This  interpretation,  though  patronized  by  great  names,  and 
maintained  by  able  pens,  labours  under  insuperable  difficulty : 
and  that,  whether  we  suppose  the  tree  to  have  been  so  called 
by  God  himself  before  the  issue,  or  by  Moses  after  it.  The 
difficulties  are  these : 

L  The  Hebrew  phrase,  i"ii  ni^D  n>n,  i.  e.  "  knowledge  of 
good  and  evil,"  cannot  well  bear  such  a  construction.  "  To 
know  good  and  evil,"  in  the  style  of  the  Scripture,  is  to  un- 
derstand the  nature  of  good  and  evil,  of  right  and  wrong;  and, 
judging  accurately  concerning  them,  to  choose  the  one  and 
shun  the  other.  In  this  lies  the  force  of  the  tempter's  argu- 
ment to  the  woman,  "Ye  shall  be  as  God,  □•'n'7NJ,  k7iowing 
good  and  evil."  God  cannot  know  evil  by  experience  ;  and 
the  Devil  was  not  such  a  fool  as  to  think  of  seducing  our  pa- 
rents by  assuring  them,  that  misery  would  be  the  reward  of 
compliance.  So  afterwards,  in  that  pathetic  lamentation,  not 
sarcastic  jeer,  over  the  poor  apostates:  "Behold  the  man 
(who)  was  (hti)  as  one  of  us,  to  know  good  and  cvil."^  Here 

'  Gen,  iii,  2?.  Vide  Boston.  Tractatus  Stigmolotjicus,  p.  30,  31. 


210       ON  THE  TREE  OF  THE  KNOWLEDGE 

inan  is  said  to  have  known  good  and  evil  before  his  fall. 
After  it,  he  knew  evil  by  experience,  but  not  good  ;  and  his 
faculty  of  judging  correctly  concerning  both  was  woefully 
perverted.  He  knew  good  and  evil  as  God  knoivs  them; 
not  by  experiment  surely,  but  by  a  clear  perception  of  their 
natures,  for  it  is  thus  only  that  God  can  know  evil ;  and  as 
it  is  absurd  and  blasphemous  to  imagine,  that  man,  by  plung- 
ing himself  into  sin,  could  become  like  God,  his  knowledge 
of  good  and  evil  must  have  been  possessed  in  the  state  of  in- 
nocence, and  consequently  could  not  consist  in  the  experience 
of  both. 

If  any  doubt  remain,  as  to  the  scriptural  use  of  the  phrase, 
it  will  probably  be  removed  by  a  passage  in  Deuteronomy, 
chap,  i,  ver.  39.  "  Your  little  ones,  which  ye  said  should  be 
a  prey,  and  your  children,  which  in  that  day  had  no  know- 
ledge between?''  or  of  ^' good  and  evil,ihey  shall  go  in  thither." 
Little  children  do  actually  experience  good  and  evil;  but 
they  have  no  discriminating  acquaiyitance  with  the  nature 
of  either ;  they  can  form  no  judgment  on  the  subject,  so  as  to 
choose  the  one  and  refuse  the  other.  Such  being  the  sense 
of  the  expression  to  "know  good  and  evil,"  it  is  evident, 
that  the  tree  in  question  was  not  denominated  from  its  refe- 
rence to  the  Fall  of  Man. 

11.  If  we  now  repair  to  the  fact,  we  shall  strengthen  our 
interpretation. 

It  is  not  true,  then,  that  man,  fallen  from  his  state  of  in- 
tegrity and  blessedness  into  a  state  of  sin  and  misery,  did  or 
could  by  such  experience  know  good.  With  evil,  indeed, 
he  acquired  a  practical  acquaintance,  as  he  had  previously 
known  it  only  in  theory.  But  how  he  should  learn  good 
from  being  thrust  headlong  into  the  depths  of  calamity,  being 
both  excluded  and  alienated  by  sin  from  the  love  and  fellow- 
ship of  God,  and  from  all  real  joy,  is  most  inconceivable !  "  By 
contrast,"  you  will  say,  "  his  misery  taught  him  the  value  of 
the  good  which  he  had  forfeited."  Certainly.  But  this  solu- 
tion supposes,  that  he  did  not  know  good  when  he  was  in  full 
possession  of  it;  and  it  is  inconsistent  with  the  idea  of  expe- 
rience; for  to  learn  a  thing  by  experience  implies  the  pre- 
sence of  the  thing  when  the  experiment  is  made.  But  the 
good  was  now  gone,  and  therefore  could  not  be  a  subject  of 
experience. 

Let  us  go  on  to  ask,  what  end  was  to  be  gained  by  naming 
the  tree  from  the  event?  Did  the  JNIost  High  God  design 
to  reveal  to  man,  by  such  an  anticipation,  his  approaching 
crime  and  wretchedness?  But  how  docs  it  accord  with  the 
divine  wisdom  to  appoint  a  tree  as  the  test  of  his  obedience, 
and  to  proclaim,  in  the  very  appellation  of  the  tree,  his  future 
disobedience,  and  its  dire  effects?  Shall  we  say,  that  he  did 
not  understand  the  meaning  of  the  appellation?  With  what 
view  was  it  bestowed,  then?  To  the  Creator  it  was  of  no  use: 


OF  GOOD  AND  EVIL.  211 

for  7?ian''s  sake  it  must  have  been  given.  But  how  for  man's 
sake,  if  its  sense  was  withheld  from  him?  Will  it  be  said,  on 
the  other  hand,  that  the  name  was  not  annexed  to  the  tree, 
till  man  had  discovered,  by  his  fall,  the  relation  which  it  bore 
to  his  condition  and  prospects?  But  still,  what  benefit  could 
accrue  from  his  learning,  when  his  probation  was  over,  that 
his  state  had  been  prefigured  by  the  name  of  the  tree  ? 

It  appears,  then,  that  the  tree  was  not  denominated  from 
the  event;  and  that  the  "knowledge  of  good  and  evil"  is  not 
such  a  knowledge  as  arises  from  experience. 

We  must  look  for  something  more  satisfactory. 

To  know  good  and  evil  does  in  truth  denote  that  faculty  of 
judgment,  by  which  a  rationak being  distinguishes  good  from 
evil,  choosing  the  former  and  rejecting  the  latter:  that  which 
Paul  styles  Biaxpiaiv  xa.\ov  ts  xa,L  xo.xov,'^  the  discernmg  be- 
tween good  and  evil.  Assuming  this  as  having  been  proved 
before,  there  are  only  two  reasons  for  the  denomination  of 
the  tree.  Either  it  was  endued  with  some  jo/i^^/ca/ virtue  of 
sharpening  the  powers  of  man  in  discriminating  between  good 
and  evil;  or  it  was  placed  in  Paradise,  not  as  a  physical,  but 
moral  cause  of  that  knowledge,  warning  him  to  avoid  deathy 
and  the  source  of  death,  which  were  figured  by  that  tree ;  and 
to  cleave  to  life,  the  opposite  of  death. 

The  first  of  these,  although  it  has  amused  some  speculative 
minds,  is  hardly  tenable.  For  it  is  not  easy  to  see  why  the 
Creator  should  forbid  the  use  of  a  tree,  to  which  he  had  im- 
parted the  quality  of  perfecting  man's  faculty  of  judging;  nor 
how,  upon  this  supposition,  he  could  be  free  from  the  impu- 
tation of  tempting  his  creature  to  sin,  by  the  very  meanSj 
which  he  had  selected  as  a  criterion  of  duty;  nor,  finally,  how 
the  taste  of  a  tree,  possessing  such  singular  virtue,  should  have 
produced,  in  our  beguiled  parents,  an  eflect  the  reverse  of  its 
own  qualities  !  For,  if  it  had  the  intrinsic  charm  of  enlarging 
their  knowledge  and  improving  their  faculties,  then  the  short 
way  to  perfection  would  have  been  sinning  against  God  ! 
These  things  it  surpasses  all  the  limits  of  sobriety  to  affirm; 
and  our  conclusion  necessarily  is,  that  the  tree  of  "  the  know- 
ledge of  good  and  evil"  was  so  called,  because,  from  the  di- 
vine institution,  it  was  a  moral  cause  of  that  knowledge,  i.  e. 
it  was  a  visible,  familiar,  and  permanent  lesson,  by  which 
man  was  not  only  admonished  of  the  eternal  distinction  be- 
tween good  and  evil,  but  was  put  upon  his  guard  as  to  the 
quarter  from  which  alone  evil  could  assail  him.  This  will 
receive  additional  light  from  the 

Second  part  of  our  inquiry,  which  relates  to  the  design  of 
prohibiting  the  use  of  the  tree  to  our  first  parents. 

Regarding  that  modesty,  which  ought  to  limit  our  re- 
searches into  the  divine  plans,  and  obeying  the  general  dic- 
tates of  scripture  and  reason,  we  may  perceive,  that  the  pro- 

^  Heb.  V,  14, 


212  ON  THE  TREE  OF  THE  KNOWLEDGE 

hibition  answered  the  three-fold  purpose  of  trial,  of  instrut- 
tion,  and  of  a  sacramental  pledge. 

That  man  should  love  and  obey  God,  would  spontaneously 
demonstrate  itself  to  his  pure  conscience  and  his  sound  intel- 
ligence. But  in  that  first  age  of  his  being,  there  could  hardly 
exist  an  occasion  of  proving  his  obedience  and  love,  without 
the  intervention  of  a  positive  precept.  Transgression  of  those 
commandments,  which  afterwards  were  written  on  the  two 
tables  of  the  moral  law,  w-as  either  physically  or  morally  im- 
possible: and  yet  it  was  in  itself  fit,  and  for  the  ends  of  moral 
government  indispensable,  that  man's  devotedness  to  his  God 
should  be  brought,  even  in  his  best  estate;  to  some  direct  and 
effectual  test.  All  the  orders  of  rational  beings,  of  whom  the 
Scriptures  give  any  account,  were  subjected,  at  their  creation 
to  probationary  law:  but  in  what  manner  a  state  of  probation 
could  exist  without  a  positive  precept  is  inconceivable.  No- 
thing else  could  afford  an  opportunity  of  evincing  submission 
to  the  divine  authority,  because  nothing  else  could  present  to 
holy  creatures  a  case  of  collision  between  their  will  and  the 
will  of  their  God.  It  is  doubtful  whether,  without  some  such 
prohibition  as  that  relating  to  the  forbidden  tree,  the  Devil, 
sapient  as  he  was,  could  have  rendered  a  temptation  to  sin 
intelligible  to  our  first  parents.  For,  as  nothing  else  was  re- 
quired of  them  but  what  their  own  pure  nature  led  them 
instinctively  to  do,  they  could  have  no  sense  of  restraint. 
In  every  thing  else,  the  will  of  God  coincided  with  their  own 
propensities;  so  that,  throughout  the  whole  range  of  their 
gratifications,  there  was  not  to  be  found  either  the  occasion  or 
the  matter  of  trespass.  Some  positive  statute,  therefore, 
which  might  control  their  will  in  a  given  instance,  was  re- 
quisite to  produce  and  preserve  in  their  minds  the  sense  of 
their  dependence  upon  God,  and  his  authority  over  them, 
without  which  his  inoral  government  could  have  no  place. 
The  very  fact,  of  their  being  under  moral  government,  seems 
to  have  demanded  some  positive  test  of  their  loyalty  ;  as  the 
very  fact,  of  their  being  rational  creatures,  supposes  them  to 
have  been  subjects  of  such  a  government.  The  contrary  sup- 
position is  mere  atheism.  The  propriety,  therefore,  of  a 
positive  test  of  their  obedience,  resulted  from  their  accounta- 
ble nature.  And  the  more  simple  this  test  was  in  itself,  and 
the  more  easy  the  duty  which  it  prescribed,  the  more  con- 
spicuously was  the  benignity  of  their  God  revealed,  and  the 
more  inexcusable  was  their  own  rebellion.  What  simpler 
test  could  they  have  chosen,  than  abstinence  from  a  particular 
tree,  however  "good  for  food  and  pleasant  to  the  eyes?'' 
What  duty  could  be  of  easier  performance,  seeing  it  did  not 
intrench  upon  a  single  enjoyment;  as  they  were  surrounded 
with  similar  enjoyments,  the  Lord  God  having  made  "  to 
grow,  ei>ery  tree  that  is  pleasant  to  the  sight,  and  good  for 
food?"  What  could  be  more  condescending,  on  his  part,  than 


OF  GOOD  AND  EVIL.  213 

the  appointment  of  so  delightful  a  probation?  And  what 
more  wantbn,  more  thankless,  or  more  provoking  on  theirs, 
than  the  violation  of  its  terms  ? 

Disobedience  under  such  circumstances,  was  of  an  aggra- 
vated sort:  but  it  will  appear  still  more  flagrant,  from  the 
consideration,  that  this  very. tree,  whose  touch  was  death,  was 
fraught  with  salutary  instruction.  Placed  in  the  midst  of  the 
garden,  and  often  meeting  the  eyes  of  our  first  parents,  it 
could  hardly  fail  to  teach  them  such  truths  as  these: — 

That  God  is  the  lord  of  all  things;  and,  consequently,  that 
man's  dominion  was  neither  absolute  nor  independent;  that, 
in  the  enjoyment  of  God  alone  is  the  satisfying  good  of  man; 
that,  in  judging  of  good  and  evil,  man  is  not  to  be  directed  by 
his  own  reason  or  pleasure,  but  by  the  revealed  will  of  God; 
that  a  man  had  not  yet  arrived  at  his  highest  happiness,  but 
was  bound  to  expect  and  desire  a  more  perfect  state,  yet  in 
that  way  alone  which  God  had  appointed;  that,  if  he  would 
escape  death,  he  must  avoid  the  cause  of  it,  i.  e.  sin,  or  the 
breaking  out  of  his  desires  beyond  those  limits  which  God 
had  assigned  to  them.  How  much  farther  the  unclouded  mind 
of  the  first  man  might  have  carried  his  reflections  on  the  for- 
bidden tree,  to  what  sublime  conceptions  of  the  divine  nature, 
and  works,  and  providence,  it  might  have  led  him,  we,  in  our 
shattered  state,  with  our  discordant  affections  and  obscure 
lights,  are  poorly  qualTfied  to  judge.  Yet,  disabled  as  we  are, 
by  the  Fall,  from  taking  such  rapid,  capacious,  and  elevating 
views  of  whatever  is  fair,  and  good,  and  magnificent  in  the 
creature  and  the  Creator,  as  were  competent  to  a  sinless  be- 
ing, we  can  discern  enough  to  persuade  us,  that  the  tree  of 
knowledge  of  good  and  evil  must  have  been,  to  innocent  man, 
a  rich  source  of  intellectual  improvement  and  moral  joy. 

The  third  use  of  the  tree  of  knowledge  of  good  and  evil  was 
that  of  a  sacramental  pledge. 

Our  first  parents  were  placed,  not  only  under  the  general 
obligations  of  moral  law,  but  under  a  peculiar  moral  constitu- 
tion, which  the  sovereign  goodness  of  God  superadded  to 
their  condition  as  accountable  creatures.  This  constitution  is 
ordinarily  termed  the  covenant  of  works ;  by  which,  in  the 
event  of  their  adhering  to  the  terms  of  their  probation,  the 
divine  faithfulness  was  engaged  to  confer  on  themselves  and 
on  their  posterity  an  immortality  of  bliss.  But,  in  the  event 
of  their  failure,  that  same  faithfulness  was  engaged  to  subject 
them  and  their  progeny  to  the  penalty  of  the  law.  It  will  be 
perceived,  that  punishment,  upon  the  commission  of  sin,  was 
a  matter  of  course.  For,  that  a  creature  should  rise  up  in  re- 
bellion against  the  Creator,  and  sufier  no  inconvenience  on 
account  of  his  crime,  is  a  contradiction,  if  not  in  words,  yet 
certainly  in  things.  Whereas  the  promise  of  eternal  life 
was  purely  gratuitous;  no  creature  having  a  right  to  demand 
more  than  this,  that  so  long  as  he  continues  obedient  he  shall 

Vol.  n^  E  c 


214     ON  THE  TREE  OF  THE  KNOWLEDGE,  &C. 

not  be  miserable.  Nor  can  any  good  reason  be  assigned, 
wliy  the  Most  High  God,  if  it  so  pleased  him,  may  not  create 
rational  beings  for  a  temporary  existence  only,  and,  when  his 
purposes  are  fulfilled,  remand  them  back  again  to  nothing. 
The  promise,  therefore,  of  eternal  life,  converted  the  law  of 
obedience  into  a  pacific  covenant,  of  which  the  tree  of  life  and 
the  tree  of  knowledge  were  the  two  sacraments;  the  former 
being  a  visible  document  of  God's  faithfulness  to  his  promise, 
and  the  latter  a  visible  document  of  his  faithfulness  to  his 
threatening.  And  thus  the  assurance  of  life  or  death  being 
exhibited  to  our  first  parents  by  sensible  signs,  they  were 
constantly  admonished  of  the  interest  staked  in  their  hands^ 
and  of  the  infinitely  happy  or  horrible  issue  of  their  proba- 
tionary state.'^ 

'  See  the  Christian's  Magazine,  New  York,  1807,  p.  67. 


as^iD^^ 


The  Numerals,  i,  ii,  iii,  iv,  refer  to  the  Volumes,  and  the 
Arabic  Figures  to  the  Pages. 


AARON  appointed  to  accompany  Moses  to  Pharaoh,  ii,  242.  With  Hiir, 
holds  up  the  hands  of  Moses  in  the  battle  against  Annalek,  iii,  42.  Per- 
mitted to  see  the  God  of  Israel,  49.  Makes  the  Israelites  an  idol,  89. 
Mitigation  of  his  offence  on  that  occasion,  91.  Consecrated  to  the  priest's 
office,  114,  His  behaviour  on  the  death  of  Nadab  and  Abihu,  ib.  Witli 
Miriam,  opposes  Moses,  120.  Priesthood  confirmed  to  him  by  a  miracle, 
124.     His  death  on  Mount  Hor,  165. 

Abel  killed,  i,  35.    Nature  and  design  of  the  sacrifice  offered  by  him,  iv,  48, 

Abihu,  his  offence  and  death,  iii,  114. 

Abilities  of  understanding,  ought  to  be  different  in  different  men,  iv,  204. 

Abimelech,  king  of  the  Philistines,  makes  a  covenant  with  Abraham,  ii,  58. 
Sole  proprietor  of  the  land  in  his  kingdom,  88. 

Abiram,  with  Korah  and  Dathan,  his  rebellion,  iii,  123. 

Abraham,  where  his  ancestors  lived,  i,  157.  Date  of  his  birth,  168.  Left  Ur 
to  go  to  Haran,  ib.  Removed  into  Canaan,  168.  Went  into  Egypt,  ib. 
His  religion,  172.  Returns  into  Canaan,  ii,  49.  Separates  from  Lot,  50. 
Whom  he  rescues  from  captivity,  51.  Receives  the  promise  of  a  son,  52, 
53.  Goes  into  Philistia,  55.  Defence  of  his  conduct  in  sending  away 
Ishmael,  56.  Enters  into  a  covenant  with  Abimelech,  58.  Required  to 
offer  up  his  son  Isaac,  ib.  Marries  Keturah,  62.  Accounts  given  of  him 
by  the  profane  writers,  ib.  His  contemporaries  in  the  heathen  nations,  &6. 
He  and  his  descendants  worshipped  two  distinct  divine  persons,  244,  253, 
Mistakes  of  his  contemporaries  concerning  him,  283. 

Achan,  his  transgression  and  death,  iii,  225. 

Acrisius  makes  laws  for  the  counoil  of  the  Amphictyones,  ii,  188, 

Actseus,  king  of  Attica,  ii,  166. 


216  INDEX. 

Adam,  vvliereof  made,  iv,  70.    Where  placed,  ib.    AVhat  immediate  command 
he  received  from  God,  ii.    Called  to  name  the  creatures,  71.     Instantly 
understood  the  meaning  of  God's  voice,  how,  73.     Did  not  at  first  make 
long  soliloquies,  76.     Did  not  name  the  creatures  all  at  one  time,  84. 
When  first  taught  to  use  sounds  of  his  own  for  the  names  of  things,  85. 
Learned  the  use  of  words  by  being  called  to  name  the  creatures,  ib.  Had 
no  innate  language,  ib.    Named  tlie  woman,  91.     Did  not  make  the  re- 
flection, that  the  man  and  his  wife  were  inseparably  to  live  together,  ib. 
His  first  day  not  a  day  of  hurry  and  confusion,  ib.     When  he  began  to 
think,  did  not  instantly  abound  in  a  variety  of  conceptions,  92.     Placed 
at  first  amongst  a  few  plain  objects,  ib.     Heard  at  first  from  God  nothing 
but  what  was  plain  and  intelligible,  ib.  How  he  began  to  make  words,  93. 
The  state  of  his  original  knowledge,  97.    Not  endowed  with  a  sudden 
apprehension  of  the  nature  of  the  living  creatures,  ib.     Had  no  such 
knowledge  of  the  animal  world  as   Milton  supposes,  ib.    Had  no  innate 
knowledge  of  God  or  himself,  $8.   Not  a  pliilosopher,  ib.    Had  no  innate 
science,  ib.     Nor  innate  sentiments  of  morality,  ib.    All  his  ideas  from 
sensation  and  reflection,  99.  Knew  no  more  of  God  than  what  he  had  seen 
or  heard  could  occasion  him  to  think  of  him,  ib.     Had  only  a  capacity  of 
attaining  just  notions  of  his  duty,   100.     Had  no  innate  astronomy,  ib, 
"Was  created  in  the  image  of  God,  what  meant  by  that  expression,  1 02. 
Not  endowed  with  an  unerring  understanding,  106.     His  capacity  quick 
and  lively,  ib.     Had  all  the  powers  of  a  sound  mind,  ib.     Sufllciently  en- 
dowed, if  he  would  have  kept  God's  commandments,  116.    Having  done 
the  will  of  God,  might,  by  the  tree  of  life,  liave  lived  for  ever,  120.  Did 
not  sin  against  God  immediately  after  his  creation,    142.     With  Eve,  at 
the  time  she  eat  of  the  forbidden  fruit,  145.     Not  superior  to  Eve  in  un- 
derstanding, to  reject  the  temptation,  146.  Afraid  of  God  because  naked, 
why,  164.     Not  at  first  sensible  of  God's  omnipresence,  166.    What  he 
meant  by  declaring  himself  afraid,  because  naked,  ib.    Not  appointed  to 
die  the  very  day  he  transgressed,  191.     Would  not  have  lived  for  ever  by 
eating  of  the  tree  of  life  after  his  transgression,  195.     By  eating  of  the 
forbidden  tree,  did  not  become  wise  as  God  is  wise,  196. 
Adam  and  Eve  both  created  on  the  sixth  day,  iv,  67.     Their  first  notions 
of   things  narrow   and  unimproved,    75.      How   their  knowledge    en- 
larged, ib.      How  they  formed  their  first   language,   76.      Blessed  by 
God  on  the  day  of  their  creation,   91.     Did  not  at   first  understand 
the  relation  they  stood  in  to  each  otlier,  93.    Why  first  employed  in 
the  garden,  95.     Groundless  opinions   of  writers  concerning  their  ori- 
ginal knowledge,  97.     Not  surprised,  at  hearing  the  serpent  speak,  ib. 
AVere  both  together  on  tluit  occasion,  ib.  145.     Believing  the  serpent  a 
proof  of  their  ignorance,  98.     Whilst  they  continued  obedient,  continued 
in  the  hand  of  God's  counsel,  115.    Their  eating  or  not  eating,  in  itself 
of  no  moment,  but  for  the  commandment  of  God,  116,  &c.    Did  not 
transgress  on  the  day  of  their  creation,  141.     E.xpected  great  advantages 
from  their  eyes  being  opened,  163.    The  tempter's  promise,  how  fulfilled 


INDEX,  217 

to  them,  ib.  Their  eyes  not  opened  as  they  expected,  ib.  Wanted  to 
hide  themselves  from  God,  166.  Did  not  make  themselves  aprons,  165. 
Their  being  naked,  not  meant  as  to  their  clothing-,  167.  Their  high  no- 
tions of  the  serpent  reprehended,  170.  Knew  not  at  first  what  enemy 
had  hurt  them,  173.  Might,  from  what  God  said  to  them,  reflect,  that 
the  serpent  did  not  speak  of  himself,  ib.  Knew  not  the  full  meaning  of 
what  was  said  to  them  concerning  the  serpent,  ib.  Did  not  apprehend 
what  God  said  concerning  the  serpent  to  belong  merely  to  that  animal, 
175.  Did  not  die  immediately  upon  eating  the  forbidden  fruit,  191.  Could 
not  have  prevented  their  dying,  after  God's  sentence,  by  eating  of  the  tree 
of  life,  195. 
Adrichomius,  his  mistake  about  the  situation  of  Seir,  ii,  128. 
Adversary,  who  seduced  our  first  parents,  iv,  147-    The  manner  in  which  he 

was  permitted  to  tempt  them,  148. 
Afrlcanus,  account  of  his  Chronographia,  iii,  140. 
Age,  the  brazen,  next  the  times  of  Jupiter,  why  so  called,  iii,  78. 
Agriculture,  its  origin  and  progress,  iv,   190. 
Aholiab  and  Bezaliel  build  the  tabernacle,  iii,  110. 
Aish,  Hebrew  word  for  man,  its  derivation,  iii,  82. 
Alcmena,  the  inscription  and  antiquities  found  in  her  tomb,  ii,  176. 
Alexander  the  Great  obliged  to  prove  himself  a  descendant  of  Helen,  ii,  191, 
His  passage  over  the  sea  of  Pamphylia  not  to  be  compared  witli  that  of 
the  Israelites  over  the  Red  Sea,  280.    His  object  in  marching  to  the  Tem- 
ple of  Jupiter  Ammon,  iii,  194. 
Alphabet,  not  invented  so  early  as  letters,  i,  144.     Specimens  of  the  ancient 

Samaritan,  151.     Phoenician,  152.     Greek,  154,  164.     Latin,  157. 
Amalekites,  attack  the  Israelites,  iii,  42. 
Amphictyon,  king  of  Thessaly,  ii,  187.     Attica,  173. 

Amphictyones,  council  of,  established  by  Amphictyon,  ii.  187.     Design  of  it, 
ib.    Laws  made  tor  it  by  Acrisius,   188.     Changes  in  the  states  which 
furnished  its  members,  ib.    Its  constitution  altered  by  Augustus  Cssar, 
189.     Place  of  their  meeting,  190.     Not  two  councils  of  that  name,  ib. 
Analogy,  runs  through  all  the  intelligences  of  God's  creation,  iv,  153. 
Ananim,  first  king  of  Lower  Egypt,  i,  133. 
Androgynes,  whence  the  fable  of  them,  iv,  68,  n. 
Anecdote  of  Moses,  when  a  child,  ii,  220,  n. 
Animal  food,  when  first  granted  to  mankind,  i,  72. 

Animals,  named  by  Adam,  iv,  77.    Not  named  all  at  one  time,  84.    Names  of 
them  not  innate  in  Adam's  mind,  85.    Nor  dictated  to  him  by  the  voice 
of  God,  86. 
Antediluvian  world,  its  chronology,  i,  57,  58,  68.    Number  of  its  inhabitants, 

51. 
Antediluvians,  Berosus's  account  of  them,  i,  41.    Sanchoniatho's  account  of 
them,  42.    Egyptian  accounts  of  them,  ib.    Their  longevity,  48.    Their 
religion,  what  may  be  conjectured  about  it,  51.  Their  wickedness,  which 
occasioned  the  flood,  \vh.it,  56. 


218  INDEX.  • 

Apollo,  son  of  Jupiter,  iii,  60.    His  travels  and  actions,  85. 
Apophis,  the  king  of  Egypt,  who  was  drowned  in  the  Red  Sea,  iii,  161. 
Appetites,  not  tlie  cause  of  the  fii'st  sin,  iv,  105.    Gross,  arise  from  the  cor- 
ruptible body,  198. 
Appointments,  God's,  conspire  to  make  up  one  universal  design,  iv,  198. 

Aprons,  not  made  by  Adam  and  Eve,  iv,  165. 

Arabians,  had  not  corrupted  their  religion  in  the  days  of  Job,  or  of  Jethro, 
i,  183. 

Arad,  king  of,  attacks  the  Israelites,  iii,  165. 

Aram,  where  he  and  his  sons  settled  after  the  dispersion  from  Babel,  i,  108 

Ararat,  mount,  where  situate,  i,  80. 

Arbaces,  probably  hitroduced  the  Nabonassarean  year  into  Media,  i,  9. 

Areas,  king  of  Arcadia,  iii,  77. 

Areopagus,  origin  of  that  court,  ii,  185.  Reason  of  its  name,  according  to 
^schylus,  ib.  Number  of  its  judges  not  always  the  same,  186.  Extent 
of  its  authority,  187.     Its  great  reputation,  ib. 

Argos,  the  rise  of  that  kingdom,  ii,  180. 

Argus,  his  family  and  genealogj',  iii,  69. 

Ark  of  Noah,  its  dimensions,  i,  41. 

Arphaxad,  where  he  lived  after  the  confusion  of  tongues,  i,  108. 

Arsinoe,  city,  where  situate,  iii,  32. 

Ao-itw,  who  so  called  at  the  first  rise  of  kingdoms,  iii,  80. 

Ashur  settled  in  Assyria,  i,  107,  118. 

Askanez,  what  country  he  planted  at  the  dispersion  of  mankind,  i,  104. 

Ass,  Balaam's,  reproves  that  prophet,  iii,  177.    That  miracle  considered,  17S. 

Assessment  of  the  Israelites,  how  much  money  raised  by  it,  iii,  110. 

Assis,  or  Aseth,  first  corrects  the  length  of  the  year,  i,  8 ;  iv,  7. 

Assyrian  empire  from  Ninus  to  Sardanapalus,  its  existence  and  extent  consi- 
dered, ii,  23. 

Astronomical  observations  at  Babylon  agree  with  the  Scripture  chronolog}-, 
5, 122. 

Astronomy,  the  Chaldean,  probably  invented  by  Belus,  i,  124.  Of  the  an- 
cients, not  exact,  193.    Its  use  in  the  ancient  agriculture,  ii,  77. 

Athlius,  first  king  of  Elis,  ii,  181. 

Athothes,  king  of  Egypt,  contemporary  with  Abraham,  ii,  66. 

Atlas,  why  said  to  support  the  heavens,  ii,  181. 

Augustus  Caesar  alters  the  constitution  of  the  Amphictyones,  ii,  189 


B. 


Babel,  tower  of,  when  begun,  i,  83.    How  long  tlie  project  of  building  it 

continued,  103. 
Babylonia,  the  kingdom  of  Ninirod,  i,  112. 

Babylonians,  when  they  began  their  astronomical  observations,  i,  124. 
Bacchus,  Grecian,  fable  about  his  bii-th  explained,  iii,  78. 


INDEX.  219 

Bacchus,  Indian,  said  to  be  the  founder  of  the  Indian  polity,  ij,  71.  Not  Sesos- 
tris,  72.    Arguments  to  prove  him  the  same  person  with  Noah,  74. 

Balaam,  his  country,  where,  iii,  176.  His  answer  to  the  messengers  of  Balak, 
ih.  The  directions  he  received  from  God,  ib  Wheiein  his  fault  consisted, 
ib.  Not  a  magician,  but  a  worshipper  of  the  true  God,  181.  Why  he  sought 
enchantments,  182.  Rebuked  by  his  ass,  177.  Dismissed  by  Balak  with 
contempt,  184.  His  advice  to  the  Midianites,  ib.  His  views  in  giving  it, 
ib   His  circumstances  and  character,  185.  Slain  by  the  Israelites,  191. 

Balak,  king  of  Moab,  sends  to  Balaam,  iii,  176. 

Balch,  a  city  of  Persia,  Abraham  never  lived  there,  i,  182. 

Bashan,  kingdom  of,  conquered  by  the  Israelites,  iii,  191. 

Beards  of  the  Ismelites,  said  to  have  turned  yellow,  iii,  94. 

Belesis,  see  Nabonassar. 

Belus,  second  king  of  Babylon,  i,  118.  Not  the  same  person  with  Nimrod, 
123.     Probably  invented  the  Chaldean  astronomy,  124.     His  tower,  148. 

Belus,  son  of  Neptune,  quits  Egypt,  ii,  161.  Goes  to  Babylon,  162.  Im- 
proves the  Babylonian  astronomy,  ib.  His  name  not  Egyptian,  163.  Not 
the  same  with  Belus,  the  second  king  of  Babylon,  164. 

Berosus,  his  extravagant  history  of  the  long  lives  of  the  antediluvian  kings,  i, 
16.     His  account  of  the  Flood,  41. 

Bezaliei  and  Aholiab  budd  the  tabernacle,  iii,  110. 

Birthright,  Esau's  what,  ii,  113. 

Blood  forbidden  to  be  eaten,  why,  i,  78. 

Bodj',  become  mortal,  presses  down  the  soul,  iv,  198.  Of  great  consequence 
to  the  soul,  to  what  body  it  is  joined,  ib. 

Body  of  sin,  we  see  in  ourselves  of  the  necessity  of  being  delivered  from,  iv, 
199. 

Bolingbroke,  Lord,  his  remarks  on  the  various  readings  in  tlie  Scriptures,  iv, 
29.  On  tlie  different  endowments  of  mankind,  46,  «.  On  the  transgres- 
sion of  Eve,  61,  n. 

Born  again,  necessity  of  our  being,  iv,  199. 

Burnet,  Dr.,  his  objections  to  a  literal  interpretation  of  the  Mosaic  account  of 
the  creation,  considered,  iv,  15.  His  theory  of  the  antediluvian  earth,  126. 
Of  the  deluge,  127.  Supposes  the  fall  of  man  to  have  taken  place  imme- 
diately after  his  creation,  141. 

Burning  bush,  miracle  of,  ii,  241. 

Burnt  offerings,  law  of,  iii,  103,  n. 


Cabiri  of  the  ancients,  who,  i,  132. 

Cadmus  builds  Thebes,  ii,  174.  Date  of  that  event,  ib.  Consideration  of  the 
arguments,  whether  he  were  a  Phosmcian  or  an  Egyptian,  176.  Manner  iu 
which  he  determined  the  siteof  the  city  Cadmea,  If  8.  Fable  of  his  sowing 
the  serpent's  teeth,  considered,  ib.  Introduced  the  Phoenician  letters  into 
Greece,  179.  Entertains  Jupiter,  iii,  77.  Date  of  his  marriage,  78. 


320  INDEX. 

Cain  kills  Abel,  i,  35.  His  punishment,  37.  His  sorrow  and  repentance,  ib. 
'J'he  mark  set  upon  him,  38.  Absurd  conjectures  on  this  subject,  ib.  w. 
Removes  into  the  land  of  Nod,  38.  Arts  invented  by  his  descendants,  ib. 
Why  he  built  a  city,  39. 

Caleb,  his  efforts  to  appease  the  rebellion  of  the  Israelites,  iii,  122.  His  inheri- 
tance, 245. 

Calf,  golden,  set  up  by  the  Israelites,  iii,  89, 

Callimachus,  rejected  the  Cretan  account  of  the  tomb  of  Jupiter,  iii,  79. 

Callisthenes,  his  account  of  the  astronomical  observations  at  Babylon,  i,  122. 

Calypso's  island,  supposed  situation  of,  ii,  181,  n. 

Canaan,  son  of  Ham,  what  countries  settled  by  him,  i,  114. 

Canaan,  land  of,  peopled  sooner  than  Egj-pt,  i,  135.  (Government  of,  originally 
founded  on  principles  of  liberty,  ii,  88.  In  what  manner  divided  amongst 
the  Israelites,  iii,  247. 

Canaanites,  their  religion  in  the  days  of  Abraham,  i,  183.  Had  no  temples  iu 
the  days  of  Moses,  iii,  113.  Whetlier  any  companies  of  them  escaped  from 
Joshua  by  flight  into  other  lands,  254.  Whether  they  made  any  settle- 
ments in  Lesser  Asia  or  in  Greece  in  the  days  of  Joshua,  255. 

Canon  Chronicus  of  Sir  John  Marsham,  account  of,  iii,  151. 

Capacities  of  men  border  upon  the  angelic  state,  iv,  112.  Not  such  as  to  be 
an  unerring  direction  to  all  truth,  105. 

Capellus,  his  arguments  to  reconcile  the  Hebrew  and  Septuagint  chronology, 
i,  64. 

Caphtorim,  where  he  settled  after  the  dispersion  from  Babel,  i,  113. 

Casluhim,  what  country  he  planted,  i,  113. 

Castor,  his  account  of  the  time  when  Cecrops  settled  in  Attica,  ii,  167. 

Cat,  why  reputed  sacred  by  the  Egyptians,  ii,  193. 

Catalogue  of  Eratosthenes,  account  of,  iii,  136. 

Cecrops  quits  Egypt,  ii,  161.  Settles  in  Attica,  166.  Djite  of  his  reign  there, 
ib.  Contemporary  with  Moses,  168.  The  means  he  adopted  to  civilize  his 
followers,  171.  His  people  at  first  not  numerous,  172.  His  care  to  instruct 
them  in  religion,  173.     Why  he  was  called  ^(pun;,  ib. 

Cedrenus,  his  opinion  about  Belus,  ii,  164. 

Centimani,  whom,  iii,  56.    Why  so  called,  ib.    In  alliance  with  Jupiter,  74. 

Ceremonies,  most  ancient  ones  used  in  religion,  what,  i,  180, 186. 

Ceres,  sister  to  Jupiter,  iii,  58.  At  his  death,  settles  in  Attica,  85.  Taught 
Triptolemus  to  sow  corn,  86. 

Chaldeans,  their  religion  in  the  days  of  Abraham,  i,  183-  The  first  idolaters, 
192.  • 

Chedorlaomer,  the  same  with  Ninyas,  ii,  50. 

Chinese  records  agree  with  the  chronology  of  Moses,  i,  48,  Their  account  of 
Fohi,  82.  Their  language  original,  90.  Their  government  the  same  now 
as  at  its  foundation,  ii,  76.  Their  account  of  the  Sun  standmg  still  in  the 
days  of  Joshua,  iif,  242. 

Chinese  Fohi,  the  same  with  Noah,  i,  82. 

Chiron,  the  constellations  he  formed,  considered,  ii,  8. 


INDEX.  221 

Christ,  the  person  who  is  to  conquer  the  old  serpent,  iv,  184. 

Christians  not  obliged  to  abstain  from  eating  blood,  i,  79. 

Chronicon,  of  Eusebius,  account  of  the,  iii,  144. 

Chronographeon,  Egyptian,  some  account  ofi  iii,  128. 

Chronographia,  of  Africanus,  some  account  of,  iii,  140.  Of  Syncellus,  account 
of,  148. 

Chronology,  of  the  antediluvians,  according  to  the  Hebrew,  i,  57.  According 
to  the  Samaritan,  58.  According  to  the  Septuagint,  61.  Arguments  of 
Capellus  to  reconcile  them,  64.  Chronology  of  the  Babylonian  empire,  121 . 
Difference  between  the  Septuagint,  Samaritan,  and  Hebrew,  respecting  the 
birth  of  Abraham,  169,     Sir  Isaac  Newton's,  considered,  ii,  7. 

Chronus,  said  to  have  sacrificed  his  son,  ii,  60.  Probably  the  same  person 
with  Abraham,  id. 

Circumcision,  practised  earlier  by  Abraham  than  by  any  of  the  heathen  nations, 
i,  193.  Arguments  for  Abraham's  learning  it  from  the  heathens  refuted, 
ib.  Discontinued  by  the  Israelites  while  in  the  wilderness,  iii,  219.  Re- 
vived by  Joshua,  ib.  Reasons  of  its  discontinuance,  220.  Practised  very 
early  by  the  Egyptians,  221. 

Cities  of  Greece  chose  their  tutelar  deities,  when,  iii,  75. 

Cities  of  refuge  appointed,  iii,  253. 

Clayton,  Bishop,  his  Strictures  on  Dr.  Shuckford's  account  of  the  Heathen 
gods,  &c.,  iii,  1 .  His  account  of  the  origin  of  the  Grecian  Fable  of  Charon, 
3.  His  reasons  against  considering  Jupiter  to  be  a  real  person,  5.  Chronus 
and  Time  supposed  by  him  to  be  the  same,  6.  His  opinion  of  the  other 
deities  mentioned  by  iManetlio,  7.  His  account  of  the  Egyptian  god  Cneph, 
10. 

Clothing  given  to  our  first  parents,  what,  iv,  200. 

Cloud,  pillar  of,  directs  the  march  of  the  Israelites,  ii,  278.  Covers  the  taber- 
nacle,  iii,  113. 

Cneph,  an  Egyptian  god,  represented  by  a  serpent,  iv,  178. 

Coats  of  skins,  in  what  manner  appointed  our  first  parents,  iv,  200. 

Colonies,  probability  of  some  being  established  in  Africa,  &c.,  from  Canaan,  iii^ 
254. 

Command  concerning  the  forbidden  tree,  suitable  to  what  God  had  made  man, 
iv,  117.  Why  such  a  command  given,  118.  Some  positive  command  ne- 
cessary to  be  given  to  our  first  parents,  121. 

Confusion  of  tongues,  i,  183.  Probable  cause  of  it,  195.  How  many  languages 
arose  from  it,  97. 

Corinthian  history,  begins,  where,  ii,  182. 

Corn,  how  furnished  to  the  Israelites  on  their  entrance  into  Canaan,  iii,  223. 

Counsel,  God's,  Adam's  rejection  of  it,  subjected  him  to  all  error,  iv,  120. 

Cranaus,  king  of  Attica,  ii,  173. 

Creation,  the,  discovers  a  wonderful  connection  between  all  things,  iv,  109. 

Cres,  king  of  Crete,  contemporary  with  Abraham,  ii,  67. 

Cretans,  anciently  famous  for  their  history,  iii,  55.    Pretended  to  have  the 
tomb  of  Jupiter,  79. 
Vol.  IV.  F  f 


222  SACRED  AND  PROFANE       BOOK  XU. 

establishment  in  those  parts  which  they  conquered;^  and 
many  points,  both  of  the  policy  and  religion  of  Egypt,  were 
neglected  by  them.  These  Pastors  were,  I  think,  the  Horites, 
who  fled  from  the  children  of  Esau  out  of  the  land  of  Edom." 
They  were  an  uncircumcised  people:  and  as  they  took  all 
methods  they  could  think  proper,  when  they  had  got  posses- 
sion of  the  land,  to  oppress  the  ancient  inhabitants,  and  to  es- 
tablish themselves,  it  is  not  likely  they  should  pay  so  much 
regard  to  the  institutions  of  the  Egyptian  religion,  as  once  to 
think  of  submitting  to  a  rite,  the  operation  of  which  would 
for  a  time  disable  them  for  war,  and  give  the  Egyptians  an 
opportunity  to  attack  and  destroy  them.®  Here,  therefore, 
we  may  suppose  a  neglect  of  circumcision  introduced  among 
the  Egyptians.  The  Israelites  were  in  Egypt  before  these 
Pastors  invaded  the  land,  and  though  they  suffered  great  op- 
pressions from  their  tyranny,^  yet  they  did  not,  in  compliance 
with  these  their  new  masters,  part  with  this  rite  of  their  re- 
ligion, and  it  might,  in  their  opinion,  be  a  matter  of  particular 
reproach  to  the  Egyptians,  that  they  had  not  only  fallen  un- 
der the  power  of  foreign  conquerors,  but  in  compliance  to 
them  had  altered  and  corrupted  their  religion.  There  are 
two  points  to  be  remarked  upon  the  revival  of  circumcision 
by  Joshua.  The  one,  that  the  Israelites  must  hereupon  have 
a  convincing  demonstration,  that  all  their  fathers  were  to  a 
man  dead,  against  whom  God  had  denounced,  that  their  car- 
cases should  fall  in  the  wilderness;^  for  upon  this  renewal  of 
circumcision,  none  having  been  circumcised  from  the  time  of 
the  exit  until  now,^  it  became  evident  how  many  of  the  camp 
had  been  in  Egypt,  and  by  computing  the  age  of  those  who 
had  been  there,  it  would  appear,  that  there  were  no  persons 
then  alive,  except  Caleb  and  Joshua,  who  were  twenty  years 
old,  when  the  poll  was  taken  in  the  year  after  the  exit.^  The 
other  point  is,  that  as  the  Israelites  were  now  in  an  enemy's 
country,  in  the  neighbourhood  of  a  powerful  and  populous 
city,  and  could  not  be  secure  any  one  day,  that  the  Canaanites 
might  not  attempt  to  march  against  them;  if  God  had  not  re- 
quired it,  Joshua  could  never  have  thought  this  a  proper  time 
to  disable''  any  part  of  the  camp  by  circumcising  them,  and 
therefore  that  he  most  certainly  had  a  command  from  God  for 
what  he  did  in  this  matter. 

On  the  fourteenth  day  of  the  month  at  even,  the  Israelites 
kept  the  Passover  in  the  plains  of  Jericho,*  and  on  the  fifteenth 
flay,  they  began  the  feast  of  unleavened  brcad,"^  according  to 

ti  Vol.  ii.  book  vii,  p.  153,  ad  fin.  5,  in  .lust.  ■   Vol.  ii,  book  vii,  p.  155. 

8  The  Shechemites  were  destroyed  by  the  sons  of  Jacob,  when  they  \vei"e 
sore,  after  having  been  circumcised.    Gen.  xxxiv,  25. 

9  Vol.  ii,  book  vii,  p.  156.  '  Numb.  xiv. 

2  Joshua  V,  5.  3  Nunnb.  xxvi,  64,  65. 

4  See  Gen.  xxxiv,  25.  ^  Joshua  v,  10. 

c  Ver.  11. 


BOOK  XII.  HISTORY  CONNECTED.  223 

.the  orders  they  had  received  for  keeping  it.^  As  it  was  now 
wheat  harvest  in  the  land  of  Canaan,  they  reaped  of  the  corn, 
which  was  ripe  in  the  fields,  and  made  their  unleavened  cakes 
with  it,^  and  God  having  now  brought  them  into  the  country 
where  provisions  were  plentiful,  the  miraculous  food,  which 
he  had  hitherto  given  them,  ceased;  for  on  the  sixteenth  day, 
and  from  thence  forwards,  there  fell  no  manna.^  The  com- 
mentators suggest  a  difficulty  in  determining  what  produce  of 
the  land  the  Israelites  made  use  of  They  remark,  that  the 
sheaf  of  the  first  fruits  of  the  harvest  was  to  be  waved  before 
the  Lord,  and  a  day  set  apart  for  the  waving  it,  and  perform- 
ing the  offerings  which  were  to  attend  it,  before  it  was  lawful 
to  eat  of  the  fruits  of  the  ground,^  and  the  Israelites  not  having 
performed  this  injunction,  they  contend  that  they  used  in 
their  feast  of  unleavened  bread,  not  of  the  corn  then  growing 
and  ripe  in  the  fields,  but  rather  of  corn  of  a  former  year's 
produce.^  Our  translators  favour  this  opinion,  and  render  the 
place.  They  did  eat  of  the  old  corn  of  the  land :  and  Dru- 
sius  and  Bonfrerius  thought  they  could  conjecture,  how  a  suf- 
ficient supply  of  such  old  corn  might  be  had  for  them.^  Dru- 
sius  imagines,  that  they  found  corn  dealers  to  buy  it  of;  Bon- 
frerius, that  they  seized  upon  stores  of  corn  laid  up  by  the 
Canaanites.  But,  1.  It  seems  far  more  reasonable  to  imagine, 
that  the  Israelites  reaped  the  crop,  which  the  fields  before 
them  afforded,  than  that  they  should  either  find  stores  suffi- 
cient in  the  plains  of  Jericho,  or  merchants,  who  either  could 
or  would  produce  enough  for  the  occasions  of  such  a  nume- 
rous hostile  army.  2.  It  does  not  appear,  that  the  observance 
of  the  wave-sheaf  offering,  was  to  commence  immediately 
upon  their  entrance  into  the  land.  I  rather  think  they  be- 
gan this  performance  upon  the  first  harvest  from  their  own 
tillage;  which  seems  to  have  been  Josephus's  opinion,  for,  3. 
He  expressly  asserts,  that  the  Israelites  had  reaped  and  used 
the  crop  they  found  ripe  and  standing  in  the  fields  of  Canaan.* 
4.  None  of  the  ancient  versions  favour  what  our  translators 
hint,  that  the  Israelites  used  here  the  old  corn  of  the  land. 
Nor,  5.  do  the  words  of  Joshua  at  all  suggest  it.  It  is  indeed 
a  common  remark  of  the  critics,  that  the  Hebrew  word  m::;?n 
menabiir,  here  used,  being  derived  from  the  verb,  oiabar,  to 
pass,  must  necessarily  signify  the  crop,  not  of  the  present, 
but  of  the  past  year;  but  as  this  word  occurs,  I  think,  nowhere 
in  the  Bible,  but  in  the  passage  before  us,  it  is  not  so  easy  to 
be  certain  of  its  signification.  The  verb  nabar  not  only  sig- 
nifies to  pass,  but  in  the  conjugation  pihel,  to  cause  to  be  big 


7  See  Levit.  xxiii,  6.               s  Joshua  v,  11.  9  Ver.  12. 

»  Levit.  xxiii,  10.                      2  Vid  Pool,  Synops.  In  loc,  3  Ibid. 

4  Josepliiis's  words  are:    Ka/  tuv  feirx*  icprn^ov  or  ex.nvai  Tm  y^^aipim,  srstvTaT, 

m  AVTOK  vpoTijiov  a-unCAiti  o-Tteivi^m,  tst£  puj'imt  iuTcp^vTHc,  Tox  Ti  yup  O-tTii' 
tiLUA^otrit  tfS'n  xotv^ivMw  e9-6o<^iv.    Antiq.  lib.  v,  cap,  iv. 


224  INDEX. 

siology,  ib.  Their  astrology,  228.  Their  magic,  ib.  "Whether  they  had 
any  lewd  dances  in  their  sucra  in  the  time  of  Moses,  iii,  94.  Their  anti- 
quities, what  books  to  be  searched  for  them,  128.  Their  opinion  of  the 
original  product  of  the  earth,  iv,  69.  Reputed  the  serpent  to  be  an  em- 
blem of  th?  good  God,  178. 
Elam,  planted  Persia,  107. 

Eldad  and  Medad,  prophesy,  in  the  camp  of  Israel,  iii,  119. 
Elders,  seventy,  appointed  to  assist  Moses,  iii,  119. 
Elim,  when  the  Israelites  went  thither,  iii,  35.    Like  a  place  described  by 

Strabo,  ib. 
Elisha  planted  the  Cyclades,  i.  106. 
Employment  of  our  first  parents,  in  tlie  garden,  iv,  188. 
Enchantments,  heathen,  for  the  cure  of  the  bites  of  serpents,  iii  169,  171. 

Used  by  Balaam,  of  what  sort,  181. 
Enoch,  proof  of  his  having  had  a  revelation  from  God,iv,  55. 
Enoch's  book,  a  fiction,  i,  55. 
Eratosthenes,  account  of  his  catalogue,  iii,  136. 
Erectheus,  not  the  same  with  Erichthonius,  ii,  174. 
Erichthonius  quits  Egypt,  ii,  161.     Invented  chariots,  191. 
'E/ioj  of  the  mythologists,  what  meant  by,  iv,  13. 

Esau  sells  his  birthright,  ii,  109.    Why  he  is  called  profane,  ib.    Wherein  his 
birthright  consisted,  110.     His  resentment  against  Jacob,  122.    Is  re- 
conciled to  him,  131.     An  account  of  his  descendants,  135.    His  charac- 
ter, 138. 
Ethiopia,  not  the  land  of  Cush,  i,  110. 
Ethiopians,  two  nations  of  that  name,  ii,  221. 

Europs,  second  king  of  Sicyon,  contemporary  with  Abraham,  ii,  66. 
Europeans,  not  early  acquainted  with  letters,  136. 
Euseblus,  his  account  of  the  division  of  the  earth  rejected,  i,  115.     His  review 

of  the  ancient  histoiy,  ii,  68.     Account  of  his  Chronicon,  iii,  144. 
Eve,  her  creation,  iv,  71.     What  her  first  idea  of  death,  74.    Understood  im- 
mediately what  the  serpent  said  to  her,  77.    What  she  expected  in  having 
her  eyes  opened,  80.     Reason  of  her  name,  94.    Not  tempted  before  she 
liad  observed,  that  the  animal  creation  had  not  the  gift  of  speech,  144- 
Tempted  before  slie  knew  it  to  be  miraculous  fur  an  animal  to  speak,  ib. 
Not  alone,  when  the  serpent  spake  to  her,  145.    The  sentence  passed 
upon  her,  187. 
Exit  of  the  Israelites  out  of  Egypt,  ii,  273.  Heathen  accounts  of  that  event,  274. 
Eye,  of  the  body,  not  able,  without  rule  or  measure,  to  raise  a  regular  struc- 
ture, iv,  204.    Of  the  mind,  unable,  without  rule,  to  build  us  up  in  every 
virtue,  ib. 
Eyes,  Adam  and  Eve's,  opened,  how,  iv,  164. 
Ezra,  in  what  manner  Ue  might  add  to  the  books  of  Scripture,  iii,  260. 


INDEX.  225 


F. 


fable  of  the  Egyptians  concerning  the  length  of  the  year,  i,  14, 7i.  u,  195.  Of 
Cadmus  sowing  the  serpent's  teeth,  ii,  178.  Of  Hercules  killing  the  ea- 
gle, which  preyed  upon  Prometheus's  liver,  iii,  84. 

Faith,  a  part  of  natural  religion,  i,  172.  In  what  God  had  revealed,  the  only 
principle  on  which  the  men  of  the  early  times  could  have  a  right  know- 
ledge of  the  Deity,  ii,  245.  Mankind  not  easily  brought  to  the  obedience 
of  it,  iii,  99.  Mistakes  of  different  writers  concerning  the  doctrine  of,  iv, 
54.    Comes  by  hearing,  156.    Obedience  of  it,  to  be  paid  unto  God,  157. 

Fall,  not  immediately  after  the  creation,  iv,  80. 

Fallax,  peculiar  use  of  that  word  in  Virgil,  iv,  193,  n. 

Feasts,  Jewish,  not  regulated  by  the  Moon,  iii,  16. 

Females,  opinion  of  the  ancients,  respecting  their  right  to  govern,  ii,  106. 
Their  reigns  generally  glorious,  107. 

Flesh,  not  eaten  till  after  the  flood,  i,  72. 

Fohi,  first  king  of  China,  i,  48,  Contemporary  with  Noah,  ib.  Probably  the 
same  person,  82. 


Games,  public,  how  managed,  in  tiie  most  ancient  times,  iii,  92. 

Garden  of  the  Lord,  mentioned  to  Abraham  by  Lot,  the  same  as  Moses's  gar- 
den of  Eden,  iv,  135.     Alluded  to  by  Ezekiel,  ib. 

Generation,  different  meanings  of  that  word,  ii,  16. 

Genesis,  book  ot^  supposed  to  be  written  by  Moses  while  in  Midian,  ii,  222. 
First  and  second  chapters  of,  not  contrary  to  each  other,  iv,  67. 

Geography  of  the  antediluvian  world,  i,  68. 

Geograpiiers,  the  most  ancient  heathen,  only  moderns  with  regard  to  the 
Scripture  geography,  iv,  133. 

Gephyraei,  the  followers  of  Cadmus,  ii,  177. 

Gerizim.     See  Ebal. 

Gibeonites,  deceive  the  Israelites,  iii,  228.  Refuse  to  join  the  confederate 
kings,  ib.  "Whether  the  Israelites  were  justifiable  in  entering  into  treaty 
with  them,  229. 

Girgashites,  wliether  they  fled  from  Joshua  into  Africa,  iii,  254. 

God,  his  name  inquired  by  Moses,  ii,  243.  Explanation  of  that  name,  243 — 256. 
In  what  sense  seen  by  Moses,  iii,  49,  Created  both  the  man  and  the  wo- 
man on  the  sixth  day,  iv,  67.  His  word  produced  all  things,  70.  The 
command  which  he  gave  to  Adam,  ib.  Caused  Adam  immediately  to  un- 
derstand what  was  spoken  to  him,  73.  Did  not  give  our  first  parents  any 
innate  language,  75.  Called  Adam  to  name  the  creatures,  76.  Did  not  direct 
Adam  what  names  to  give  them,  85  Enjoined  man  and  wife  to  live  to- 
gether, 91.    Did  not  confound  Adam's  first  thoughts  with  a  vai'iety  of  ob- 


226  INDEX. 

jects,  92.  His  blessing  upon  our  first  parents;  94.  Did  not  endue  Adam 
with  an  unerring  understanding,  106.  Made  a  revelation  to  man,  as  soon 
as  he  was  created,  114.  The  first  command  he  gave  Adam,  suitable  to 
man's  nature,  117.  His  first  command,  how  to  be  understood,  118.  Did 
not  cause  the  serpent  to  tempt  Eve,  147.  His  prophecies  to  our  first  pa- 
rents, enlarged  by  farther  prophecies  in  after-ages,  174.  His  sentence 
against  our  first  parents  not  to  have  been  defeated  by  their  eating  of  the 
tree  of  life,  195.  Appointed  Adam  and  Eve  clothing,  in  what  manner, 
200.  Appointed  sacrifices,  when,  201.  Instructed  Adam  in  all  necessary 
knowledge  after  tlie  fall,  202.    His  word  the  rule  of  truth,  205. 

God  of  Israel,  whom  intended  by  that  appellation,  iii,  50. 

Gods  of  Egypt,  rudeness  of  their  sculpture  no  proof  of  their  antiquity,  ii,  207. 

Gods  of  human  form,  their  origin,  iii,  51. 

Gomer,  where  he  settled  at  the  dispersion  of  mankind,  i,  103. 

Government,  civil,  in  India,  built  upon  the  foundation  of  paternal  authority-, 
ii,  82. 

Greece,  uncertainty  of  its  histoiy  before  the  time  of  Cecrops,  ii,  180.  Dates 
of  the  foundation  of  its  several  states,  181. 

Greek  alphabet,  specimens  of,  i,  154,  164.     Additions  to,  155. 

Greeks  received  their  letters  from  the  Phoenicians,  i,  137.  Disguised  all  their 
ancient  accounts  with  allegory,  ii,  179.  Called  Grseci,  190.  And  Hel- 
lenes, 191. 

H. 

Hailstones,  the  Canaanites  destroyed  by  a  storm  oi',  iii,  237. 

Halirrothius  slain  by  Mars,  iii,  75. 

Halley,  Dr  .  his  account  of  the  astronomy  of  the  ancients,  ii,  14. 

Ham,  the  youngest  son  of  Noah,  i,  103.  Parts  of  the  world  settled  by  his  dt 
scendants,  109. 

Haran,  land  of,  whence  so  named,  i,  166. 

Hardness  of  heart,  not  produced  in  Pharaoh  by  God,  ii,  270. 

Ilarduin,  Father,  his  ridiculous  solution  of  a  Scripture  difficulty,  i,  170. 

Havilah,  land  of,  where,  i,  69.     Well  known  in  the  postdiluvian  world,  iv,  133. 

Havilah,  son  of  Cush,  where  he  lived,  i,  108. 

Ilazor,  city,  burnt  by  the  Israelites,  iii,  245. 

Heathens,  their  opinion  of  tlie  way  in  which  miracles  might  be  wrought,  ii,  231. 
Never  prayed  ^o  one  god  for  deliverance  from  another,  258. 

Heathen  writers  confirm  the  Mosaic  account  of  the  creation,  i,  22.  Method;; 
by  which  they  obtained  their  knowledge,  25.  Their  attempts  to  over- 
throw the  sacred  history,  ii,  68.  Their  accounts  of  the  Israelites  leaving 
Egypt,  274.  Mention  the  Sun  standing  still  at  tiie  command  of  Joshua, 
iii,  238. 

Heavenly  bodies,  the  first  objects  of  idolatr\-,  i,  189 ;  ii,  231. 

Hebrew,  probably  the  first  language  in  the  world,  i,  89.  Specimen  of  the  old 
Hebrew  or  Samaritan  letters,  151. 


INDEX.  227 

Hebron,  in  Canaan,  built  seven  years  before  any  city  in  Egj-pt,  135. 
Heliopolis,  opinion  of  the  priests  of,  about  the  passage  of  the  Israelites  over 

the  Red  Sea,  ii,  282. 
Hellas,  the  name  of  Greece,  at  first  only  a  part  of  Thessal}-,  ii,  191.    Never 

called  so  by  Homer,  ib. 
Hellen,  king  in  Thessaly,  ii,  190.-    The  Greeks  called  Hellenes  from  him,  ib. 

The  great  influence  of  his  descendants  in  Greece,  191.    Instituted  the 

Panathenaean  games,  ib. 
Hellenes,  the  Greeks  so  called,  ii,  190.    Only  those  under  the  government  of 

•Hellen  received  that  appellation  at  first,  191.    The  Greeks  in  general 

never  called  so  by  Homer,  ib. 
Hercules,  three  persons  of  that  name,  lii,  84. 
Herodotus,  his  opinion  of  the  antiquity  of  Semiramis,  considered,  ii,  24.    His 

account  of  the  Egyptian  polity,  89. 
Heroes,  when  first  worshipped,  and  why,  ii,  194,  195. 
Uiddekel,  a  river  known  to  Daniel,  iv,  133. 
Hieroglyphics  invented  by  the  second  Taautus,  ii,  200.    The  Egyptians  had 

two  sorts  of,  ih. 
Historians,  ancient,  way  in  which  their  histories  were  collected,  ii,  47. 
History,  ancient  profane,  probably  much  corrupted,  i,  13.    Romantic  accounts 

given  by,  ii,  44,  &c. 
Hobab,  son  of  Jethro,  journeys  with  the  Israelites,  iii,  119. 
Homer,  his  notion  of  the  divine  right  of  kings,  ii,  92. 
Horeb,  a  mountain  contiguous  to  Sinai,  iii,  40, 
Horites,  possessed  the  land  of  Seir,  ii,  134.     Dispossessed  by  the  children  of 

Esau,  135. 
Hur  assists  Aaron  to  hold  up  the  hands  of  M^es,  whilst  the  Israelites  were  in 

battle,  iii,  42.    He  and  Aaron  have  the  charge  of  the  people,  46.    Did  not 

pi-obably  outlive  the  sin  of  the  golden  calf,  90. 
Husbandry,  the  first,  only  gardening,  iv,  189. 
Hyagnis,  said  to  have  improved  music,  ii,  192. 
Hyginus,  his  fable  of  Prometheus,  iii,  81. 

I. 

I  AM  THAT  I  AM,  explained,  ii,  247. 

Idolatry,  none  before  the  flood,  i,  53.  First  practised  in  Chaldea,  192.  Most 
gross  in  the  nations  most  acquainted  with  the  Egyptians,  199. 

Ifcst/c,  that  term  explained,  ii,  97. 

Image  of  God,  what  meant  by,  iv,  102.  Opinions  of  the  heathen  on  this  sub- 
ject, 104. 

Image  worship,  its  origin,  i,  200. 

Inachus,  ferst  king  of  Argos,  contemporary  with  Abraham,  ii,  66.  Probable 
method  by  which  he  formed  his  kingdom,  67.  Arguments  of  Sir  John 
Marsham,  against  his  existence,  answered,  ib. 

India  fruitless  attempts  to  conquer  it  by  Ninus  and  Semiramis,  i,  126,    Rea- 


228  INDEX 

sons  of  the  opposition  they  experienced,  12?";  ii,  82.  What  countries 
known  by  that  name  by  ancient  writers,  ii,  76. 

Indians,  first  made  astronomy  subservient  to  agriculture,  ii,  77.  Practice  ot 
their  first  physicians,  238. 

Indian  Bacchus,  not  the  same  person  as  ^esostris,  ii,  72.     Probably  Noah,  74. 

Indian  polity,  what,  ii,  76. 

Inscription,  Sigean,  fac-simile  of,  i,  159,  160,  161.  Fac-simile  of  one  on  the 
statue  of  Jupiter  Urius,  162. 

Isaac,  his  birth,  ii,  55.  Marries  Rebekah,  63.  Removes  to  Gerar,  114.  Ba- 
nished thence  by  Abimelech,  ib.  Who  afterwards  enters  into  an  alliance 
with  him,  115.    Date  of  his  death,  134.     His  character,  145. 

Ishmael,  his  birth,  ii,  53. 

Isis,  table  of,  described,  ii,  211. 

Israelites,  date  of  their  exit  out  of  Egypt,  ii,  221.  Eat  the  first  passover,  273. 
Time  of  their  sojourning  in  Eg\'pt,  275.  Murmur  against  Moses  at  Ma- 
rah,  iii,  31.  March  to  Elim,  35.  Distressed  for  provisions  in  the  wilder- 
ness of  Sin,  35.  Relieved  by  a  miraculous  supply  of  quails  and  manna,  ib. 
Want  water  at  Rephidim,  38.  Defeat  the  Amalekitcs,  42.  Their  march 
to  Sinai,  when,  48  Force  Aaron  to  make  a  golden  calf,  89.  Whether 
they  danced  naked  before  it,  94.  Whether  they  set  up  the  calf,  in  imita- 
tation  of  the  Egyptian  sacra,  95,  Upon  what  principle  they  fell  into  this 
idolatry,  97.  Taxed  towards  erecting  the  tabernacle,  110.  Numl)ered 
by  Moses,  117.  Their  rebellion  in  the  wilderness  of  Paran,  119.  Afraid 
to  enter  Canaan,  121.  Punishment  denounced  against  them  for  their  ob- 
stinacy, 122.  Attempt  to  enter  Canaan,  but  are  defeated,  ib.  Retreat 
towards  the  Red  Sea,  123.  Their  rebellion  with  Korah,  ib.  Arrive  in  the 
wilderness  of  Sin,  when,  163P^  Their  mutiny  at  Kadesh,  ib.  Bitten  by  fiery 
serpents,  167.  Their  several  encampments  from  Kadesh  to  Pisgah,  175. 
Conquer  Sihon  king  of  the  Amontes,  ib.  Reduce  the  kingdom  of  Dashan, 
ib.  Seduced  to  idolatry  by  the  Moabitisli  women,  185.  Numbered  by 
Moses,  190.  Give  possessions  to  the  tribes  of  Reuben  and  Gad,  191. 
Could  not  have  been  deceived  with  respect  to  the  miracles  wrought  by 
Mo.ses,  199.  Never  disposed  to  believe  or  depend  upon  him  implicitly,  202. 
Their  miraculous  passage  through  Jordan,  217.  Revive  the  rite  of  circi- 
sion,  219.  Besiege  and  take  Jericho,  224.  Defeated  at  Ai,  225.  Deceived 
by  the  Gibeonites,  228.  Not  commanded  to  destroy  all  the  inhabitants  of 
Canaan,  229.  Whether  they  might  make  league  with  them,  231.  Whe- 
ther justifiable  in  their  treatment  of  the  Gibeonites,  235.  In  what  manner 
they  divided  the  land,  247.    'I'heir  embassy  about  the  altar  at  Jordan,  253. 

Ister,  wrote  a  book  about  the  migrations  out  of  Egypt,  ii,  161. 

.T. 

Jabln,  king  of  Hazor,  conquered  by  the  Israelites,  iii,  244. 
.lacob,  his  temper  and  disposition,  ii,  109.     Gels  the  birthright  from  Esau,  ib. 
Obtains  the  blessing  from  Isaac,  121.    Departs  for  Mesopotamia,  121^. 


INDEX.  229 

Marries  Leah  and  Rachel,  123.  His  bargain  with  Laban  justified,  124, 
Leaves  Laban,  127.  Returns  to  Canaan  in  great  prosperity,  128.  Sends 
to  his  brother  Esau,  ib.  Wrestles  with  an  angel,  130.  Trials  at  Shechem, 
131.  Reforms  his  family,  132.  Removes  to  Hebron,  133.  Goes  into 
Egypt,  143.  His  death  and  character,  144.  Mention  made  of  him  by 
profane  writers,  146. 

Japhet,  the  eldest  son  of  Noah,  j,  103.  Not  at  the  confusion  of  Babel,  iO, 
Parts  of  the  world  settled  by  his  descendants,  ib. 

Jehovah,  universally  known  as  the  name  of  the  supreme  God  in  early  times, 
ii,  249. 

Jericho,  taken  by  the  Israelites,  iii,  224. 

Jethro,  receives  Moses,  and  gives  him  his  daughter,  ii,  220.  His  advice  to 
Moses,  respecting  the  government  of  the  Israelites,  iii,  45.  Persuaded 
to  accompany  the  Israelites  to  Canaan,  119. 

Jewish  year,  length  of,  i,  11.  Method  by  which  computed,  iii,  6.  Their  feasts 
not  regulated  by  the  Moon,  16. 

Jews,  their  opinion  respecting  their  national  birthright  to  tlie  blessings  of  the 
Messiah,  ii,  112. 

Job,  time  when  he  lived,  ii,  11".  Book  of,  not  written  by  Moses,  223.  In 
what  verse  written,  224. 

Jordan,  passage  througli  it,  considered,  iii,  218,  &c. 

Josephus,  his  account  of  Seth's  pillars,  i,  55.  Of  some  particulars  in  the  life 
of  Moses,  ii,  220.  Refutation  of  his  story  of  the  change  of  the  waters 
of  Marah,  iii,  33.     His  extracts  from  Manetlio,  138. 

Joseph,  sold  by  his  brethren,  ii,  134.  His  advancement,  139.  Interprets  Pha- 
raoh's dreams,  140-  Is  made  deputy  over  Egypt,  ib.  Raises  the  king 
immense  riches,  141.  Remarks  upon  his  management,  zi.  Why  he  bought 
not  the  priests'  lands,  ib.  His  brethren  come  to  Egypt,  143.  Embalms 
Jacob,  and  buries  him  in  great  state,  147.  By  what  king  of  Egypt  he  was 
advanced,  ib.    His  death,  148. 

Joshua,  his  behaviour  on  the  return  of  the  twelve  spies,  iii,  122.  Appointed 
by  God  to  lead  the  Israelites  upon  the  death  of  Moses,  192.  Takes  the 
command  of  the  people,  214.  Sends  spies  to  Jericho,  ib.  Sets  up  the 
stones  in  Gllgal,  217.  Revives  the  use  of  circumcision,  219.  Would 
not  have  revived  it  without  a  special  command  from  God,  222.  Conquers 
the  five  kings  of  the  south  of  Canaan,  '237.  Commands  the  Sun  and 
Moon  to  stand  still,  ib.  Victorious  over  the  kings  of  the  north  of  Canaan, 
244.  How  long  engaged  in  subduing  that  country,  245.  Divides  the  land, 
245 — 252.  His  inheritance,  where,  252.  His  admonitions  to  the  Israelites., 
256.  His  death,  257.  Whether  he  wrote  the  book  called  by  his  name,  258, 

Jubilee,  year  of,  when  to  be  kept,  iii,  211. 

Julian  year,  longer  than  the  ancient,  i,  12. 

Juno,  wife  of  Jupiter,  assists  him  in  the  government  of  his  kingdoin,  iii,  71- 
Celebrated  in  Greece  for  her  abilities,  87. 

Jupiter,  of  the  Greeks,  contemporary  with  Moses,  iii,  55.  Difficulties  attend- 
ing his  history,  ib.    Fabulous  account  of  his  preservation  when  an  infant. 
Vol.  IV.     '  G  g 


230  INDEX. 

58.  Succeeds  his  fether  in  the  kingdom  of  Crete,  59,  Marries  his  sister 
Juno,  ib.  His  other  wives,  and  children,  59,  60.  How  many  genera- 
tions he  lived  before  the  Trojan  war,  60.  Farther  evidence  to  settle  the 
era  in  which  he  lived,  62 — 70.  His  politics  and  improvements  in  his 
countiy,  70.  His  assistants,  and  what  posts  they  held  under  him,  71. 
Why  he  and  his  colleagues  were  held  in  higher  estimation  than  other  he- 
roes in  after  ages,  72.  His  times,  why  called  the  silver  age,  7o.  The 
opposition  he  met  with,  and  from  whom,  74,  &c.  Who  were  his  allies, 
U>.  Travels  from  Crete  into  other  countries,  75.  Goes  into  Arcadia,  76. 
Not  worshipped  by  Lycaon,  ib.  Worshipped  the  luminaries  of  Heaven,  77. 
Date  of  his  visit  to  Cadmus,  ib.  In  love  with  Semele,  78.  Reason  we 
have  no  account  of  his  death,  ib.  Cretans  pretend  to  the  possession  of 
his  tomb,  ib.  His  great  wisdom,  79.  The  new  scenes  of  life  opened  by 
him,  ib.  Reasons  of  his  severity  in  the  punishment  of  Prometheus,  81. 
No  grounds  for  supposing  his  children  succeeded  to  his  kingdom,  85. 
Justin,  his  account  of  the  wars  between  Sesostris  and  Tanais,  considered,  i, 
127.     His  account  of  the  exit  of  the  Israelites  from  Egypt,  ii,  275. 


K. 

Fvibroth  Tlattaavah,  rebellion  of  the  Israelites  there,  iii,  120. 

Kingdoms,  account  of  their  formation  after  the  flood,  ii,  7&,  84,  86,  88.  All 
the  ancient,  not  hereditary,  91. 

Kings,  the  first  corrupters  of  religion,  i,  203.  Calculation  of  the  aver.ige 
length  of  their  reigns,  in  different  periods,  ii,  18,  20.  The  Indian  kings 
originally  had  the  sole  property  of  all  the  lands  in  the  kingdom,  79.  An- 
cient opinion  of  their  divine  right,  92.  Their  ambition  in  the  early  times 
to  derive  descent  from  the  gods,  iii,  67. 

Kircher,  his  opinion  concerning  the  first  inventors  of  letters,  i,  139. 

Kittim,  the  father  of  the  Macedonians,  i,  105. 

Knowledge,  state  of  our  first  parents',  when  in  Paradise,  iv,  97. 

Korah,  Dathan,  and  Abiram,  their  conspiracy,  iii,  123.  The  grounds  of  it, 
124.    How  reduced,  ib. 


Laban,  his  gods,  what,  i,  201.  Deceives  Jacob,  ii,  123.  Pursues  Jacob,  but 
is  reconciled  to  him,  128. 

Labour  of  our  first  parents,  what,  iv,  188. 

Lacedemonians,  akin  to  the  Jews,  iii,  53. 

Lamech's  speech  to  his  wives  explained,  i,  39. 

Land  of  Eden,  not  in  Ccele-Syria,  i,  69.     But  in  Chaldea,  ib. 

Land  of  the  garden  of  Eden  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Babylonia,  iv,  134. 

Language,  nature  and  origin  of,  i,  84;  iv,  41.  Man  only  capable  of,  ib.  Mis- 
taken account  of  its  origin,  ib.    No  innate  language,  85.    Original  of  it. 


INDEX.  ^1 

86.  First  language,  of  what  sort,  ib.  What  particular  language  most 
likely  to  have  been  the  first,  88.  Chinese  language  an  original,  91.  Causes 
of  the  mutability  of  language,  ib.  These  not  the  causes  of  the  confusion 
at  Babel,  94.  Difficulties  of  diffi;rent  writers  in  accounting  for  it,  ib.  How- 
it  may  possibly  be  accounted  for,  95.  How  many  languages  arose  at  thp 
confusion  of  tongues,  97.     Did  not  differ  much  at  first,  98. 

Latin  alphabet,  specimens  of,  i,  157. 

Latins  received  their  letters  from  the  Greeks,  i,  136. 

Law,  the  ceremonial,  given  before  the  idolatry  of  the  golden  calf,  iii,  101 

Laws,  written,  first  given  by  Moses,  iii,  209. 

League,  what  the  meaning  of  that  word,  iii,  234. 

Learned  men  have  often  embraced  the  grossest  absurdities,  ii,  206. 

Learning,  Egyptian,  state  of,  in  the  time  of  Moses,  ii,  226.  Human,  the  source 
of  false  religion,  284. 

Legislators,  ancient,  paid  a  surprising  deference  to  paternal  authority,  i,  78. 

Lehabim,  father  of  the  Lybians,  i,  113. 

Lelex,  first  king  of  Laconia,  iii,  53.  Settlements  made  by  him,  ib.  Probably 
an  Israelite,  54.     Date  of  his  reign,   ib. 

Ang-cu,  who  so  called  at  the  first  rise  of  kingdoms,  iii,  80. 

Letters,  invention  of,  i,  135.  Not  early  amongst  the  Europeans,  136.  Brought 
into  Italy  from  Greece,  ib.  Received  by  the  Greeks  from  the  Phoenicians, 
137.  Not  invented  in  Phrenicia,  13'9.  Brought  into  PhcEuicia  from  Syria, 
ib.  The  same  letters  used  at  first  in  Plioenicia,  Syria,  Samaria,  Canaan, 
and  Assyria,  140.  Not  invented  by  the  Egyptians,  ib.  Probability  of 
their  being  propagated  into  all  the  west  from  Assyria,  141.  Not  invented 
in  Assyria,  nor  by  Moses,  nor  by  Abi-aham,  ib.  Probably  used  before  the 
Flood,  ib.  Noah  supposed  to  be  acquainted  with  them,  142.  Absurd 
conjectures  about  their  origin,  143.  First  letters  not  alphabetical,  144. 
Nor  hieroglyph ical,  147.  Use  of  alphabetical  letters  very  early,  148.  A 
conjecture  about  the  original  of  them,  ib.  Derivation  of  the  modern  Eu- 
ropean letters,  150.  Specimens  of  the  old  Hebrew  and  Samaritan  alpha- 
bets, 151.  Of  the  Phoenician,  152,  153.  Of  the  ancient  Greek,  154,  164. 
Written  originally  from  the  right  hand  to  the  left,  ib.  Written  afterwards 
Bug-poipuSoy,  154.  Several  letters  taken  Afterwards  into  the  Greek  Alpha- 
bet, 155.  The  old  Roman  letters,  157.  Specimens  of  those  used  in  the 
Sigean  inscription,  159,  160, 161.  Copy  of  an  ancient  inscription  on  the 
statue  of  Jupiter  Urius,  162.  Fac-simile  of  the  Lord's  Pra3'er  in  ancient 
Greek,  164. 

Levites,  support  Moses  on  occasion  of  the  Israelites'  idolatry,  iii,  91.  Set 
apart  for  the  service  of  the  tabernacle,  117. 

Life,  the  most  dead  parts  of  matter  not  entirely  destitute  of,  iv.  111, 

Longinus,  his  character  of  Moses,  ii,  239. 

Lord's  Prayer,  fixc-simile  of  an  ancient  one,  i,  I64. 

Lot  rescued  from  captivity  by  Abraham,  ii,  52.  Saved  from  the  destruction  of 
Sodom,  54.    Fate  of  his  wife,  j6.    The  father  of  Moab  and  Ammon,  55. 


^32  INDEX. 

Lucian,  his  injudicious  cavil  at  Moses's  account  of  the  creation,  ii,  240.    His 

ridicule  of  the  fable  of  Prometheus,  iii,  83. 
Lud,  the  father  of  the  Lydians,  i,  108. 
Ludim,  tile  father  of  the  Lybians,  i,  113. 
Lupercalia,  when  instituted,  iii,  76. 
Lycaon,  king  of  Arcadia,  his  character,  iii,  76.     Entertains  Jupiter,   who 

kills  him,  ib.    Why  said  to  be  turned  into  a  wolf,  ib.    Did  not  worship 

Jupiter,  ib. 
Lycxus,  Jupiter,  an  altar  erected  to  him,  iii,  76. 
Lycurgus  appointed  sacrifices  of  small  value,  ii,  142,    His  opinion  of  written 

laws,  iii,  208. 
Lyre,  invented  by  Mercury,  ii,  239. 

M. 

Aladai,  the  father  of  the  Medes,  i,   107. 

Magic,  practised  before  the  time  of  Moses,  ii,  228. 

Magicians,  of  Egypt,  withstand  Moses,  ii,  257.  Really  performed  miracles, 
262, 

Magistrates,  their  duty  to  establish  religious  worship,  ii,  105. 

Magog,  where  he  lived,  i,  103. 

Man,  cannot  be  placed  higher  than  between  the  animal  and  angelic  state,  iv, 
112.  Not  created  with  unerring  reason,  114.  Not  without  a  revelation 
from  the  beginning,  ib.  Why  required  to  obey  God's  voice,  118,  By 
obeying  God's  voice  would  liave  been  made  wise,  and  fit  for  glory,  120. 
Guided  by  his  Creator,  might  have  advanced  unto  all  truth,  158.  After 
the  fall,  born  to  a  duplicity  of  nature,  199.  Mind  of,  not  so  slow  in  in- 
vention, as  that  we  can  always  trace  the  steps  of  it,  201.  A  creature  a 
degree  above  the  instinct  of  animal  life,  204.  Not  made  so  perfect  as  to 
want  no  guidance  but  his  own,  ib.  His  perfections,  both  of  body  and 
mind,  to  a  degree  only,  ib. 

Alanetho,  his  Egyptian  antiquities  considered,  i,  42.  His  object  in  writing 
them,  47,  Tomes  of,  consi^red,  iii,  133.  Extracts  from,  in  Josephus, 
an  account  of,  138.  ~ 

Mankind,  origin  of,  i,  35.  Not  from  eternity,  iv,  67.  Origin  of,  known  only 
from  Moses's  history,  ib.  Imperfect,  wherein,  200.  Had  our  first  parents 
not  sinned,  whether  mankind  might  not  have  been  born  immortal,  20. 

Manna,  given  to  the  Israelites  in  the  wilderness,  iii,  35.  Rabbinical  fancies 
concerning  it,  ib.  n.  Supply  of  it  ceases  on  their  entrance  into  Canaan, 
223. 

Marah,  its  signification,  iii,  32.    No  place  so  called  by  profane  writers,  ib. 

]\Jark,  St.,  monkish  fable  concerning  his  festival,  iii,  123. 
Mars  kills  Halirrothius,  and  is  tried  before  the  Areopagus,  iii,  75. 
Marsham,  Sir  John,  gives  the  best  account  of  the  Egyptian  antiquities,  i,  44. 
Vi-oves  Mizraim  to  be  the  same  with  Menes,  129.     Answer  to  his  objec- 
tions against  the  existence  of  Inachus,  ii,  67.    His  remarks  on  the  ancient 


INDEX.  233 

king's  of  Sicyon  confuted,  69.  Mistaken  as  to  the  king'  of  Egypt  who  ad- 
vanced Joseph,  147.  Falsely  supposed  Belus,  the  son  of  Neptune,  to  be 
the  same  with  Belus,  the  second  king  of  Babylon,  164.  In  error  with  re- 
spect to  the  council  of  the  Amphictyones,  190.  An  account  of  his  Canon 
Chronicus,  iii.  151.  His  tables  of  the  kings  of  Egypt,  152, 153,  158.  His 
remarks  on  the  brazen  serpent,  167. 

Marsi,  their  supposed  abilities  to  cure  the  bites  of  serpents,  iii,  169. 

Meat,  recommendeth  not  to  God,  iv,  120. 

Mercury,  the  second,  author  of  many  of  the  Egyptian  superstitions,  li,  199. 
His  three-corded  lyre,  239. 

Mesech,  where  he  lived,  i,  103. 

Meton,  cycle  of,  probably  not  discovered  by  him  in  its  present  state,  ii,  11. 

Middleton,  Dr.,  his  objections  to  a  literal  interpretation  of  the  Mosaic  account 
of  the  Creation,  considered,  iv,  15.  Refutation  of  his  arguments  against 
the  genealogy  of  Christ,  20. 

Midwives,  the  Egyptian,  ordered  to  destroy  the  children  of  the  Israelites,  ii,  157. 
Meaning  of  Exod.  i,  21,  respecting  them,  ib. 

Milton,  his  notions  of  Adam,  when  first  created,  poetical,  but  not  likely  to  be 
true,  iv,  92  ;  jj.  His  relation,  how  Adam  named  the  creatures,  ground- 
less, 97.  Does  not  suppose  Adam  and  Eve's  transgi-ession  on  the  same 
day  they  were  created.  142.  His  account  of  the  serpent  tempting  Eve 
not  warranted  by  Scripture,  145. 

Minerva,  her  difference  with  Neptune  about  the  Athenians,  iii,  75. 

Minos,  falsely  said  to  be  the  son  of  Jupiter,  iii,  63. 

Miracles,  not  to  be  wrought  by  art,  ii,  261.  Really  wrought  by  the  magicians 
of  Egypt,  262.  How  they  were  enabled  to  perform  them,  265.  The  pas- 
sage of  the  Red  Sea  a  real  one,  279. 

Miriam  and  Aaron  oppose  Moses,  iii,  120.     Death  of  Miriam,  163. 

Mizraim,  settled  in  Egypt,  i,  113.  Time  of  that  event,  129.  The  same  with 
the  Menes  of  the  heathen  writers,  ib. 

Mneves,  not  the  same  person  as  Moses,  iii,  209.  Governed  his  people  by  un- 
written laws,  210. 

Moabites,  seduce  the  Israelites  to  idolatry,  iii,  185. 

Monceius,  his  account  of  Aaron's  making  the  Israelites  naked,  iii,  94. 

Montfaucon,  F.,  his  description  of  the  table  of  Isis,  ii,  211.  Errs  in  his  expla- 
nation of  the  Egyptian  images,  207,  210. 

Monuments  of  the  antediluvian  learning,  none,  i,  54. 

Moon,  Jewish  feasts  not  regulated  by,  iii,  16.  Stands  still  at  the  command  of 
Joshua,  iii,  237. 

Mosaic  account  of  the  creation,  to  be  literally  understood,  iv,  67.  Drs.  Burnet 
and  Middleton's  objections  to,  considered,  15. 

Moses,  his  account  of  the  creation,  i,  21.  Confirmed  by  several  heathen  au- 
thors, 22.  His  genealogy  of  the  antediluvians,  57,  58.  His  birth,  ii,  219. 
Preserved  by  Pharaoh's  daughter,  ib.  Made  commander  of  the  Egyptian 
lu-mics,  ib.  Anecdote  of,  when  a  child,  220  ;  n.  His  faith  in  the  promises 
of  God  with  respect  to  the  Israelites,  ib.    Flies  to  Midian,  ib.    Date  of  his 


234  INDEX. 

birth,  221.  Said  to  have  married  the  king  of  Ethiopia's  daughter,  ib. 
Supposed  to  have  written  the  Book  of  Genesis  in  Midian,  222.  Not  the 
author  of  the  Book  of  Job,  223.  Learned  in  all  the  learning  of  the  Egyp- 
tians, 226.  Skilful  in  writing  both  prose  and  verse,  239.  His  song,  in 
what  verse  written,  240.  Is  appointed  to  go  to  Egjpt,  241.  Circumcision 
of  his  son,  242.  Asks  the  name  of  God,  and  why,  243.  Goes,  with  Aaron, 
to  Pharaoh,  257.  Confirms  his  mission  by  a  miracle,  ib.  Endeavours  in 
vain  to  persuade  Pharaoh  to  dismiss  the  Israelites,  266,  268.  Not  angry 
with  Piiaraoh  at  his  last  interview,  272.  Conducts  the  Israelites  out  of 
Egypt,  273.  Did  not  lead  them  by  his  own  conduct  or  contrivance,  276. 
Divides  the  Red  Sea,  278.  Fictions  of  the  Hebrew  writers  respecting  that 
event,  279.  Leads  the  Israelites  into  the  wilderness  of  Shur,  iii,  31.  Pro- 
bably not  directed  thither  by  God,  32.  How  tried  and  proved  at  Marah, 
ib.  Smites  the  rock  at  Rephidim,  38.  His  hands  being  held  up,  the 
Amalekites  are  defeated,  42.  Is  visited  by  Jethro,  45.  With  Aaron, 
Nadab,  and  Abihu,  sees  the  God  of  Israelites,  49.  Continues  in  the 
mount  forty  days  and  nights,  ib.  Finds  the  Israelites  worshipping  the 
golden  calf,  89.  Reduces  the  idol  to  powder,  and  makes  the  people 
drink  it,  ib.  Expostulates  with  Aaron  on  the  subject,  ib.  Commands  the 
Levites  to  slay  the  idolaters,  91 .  Goes  up  the  mount  a  second  time,  109. 
Taxes  the  Israelites  towards  building  the  tabernacle,  110,  Erects  the 
tabernacle,  112.  Takes  the  number  of  the  people,  117.  Chooses  seventy 
elders  to  assist  him  in  the  government,  119.  Sends  out  the  twelve  spies, 
121.  Leads  the  Israelites  back  towards  the  Red  Sea,  123.  Rebellion  of 
Korah  against  him,  ib.  Disobeys  the  command  of  God  at  Kadesh,  163. 
Makes  tlie  brazen  serpent,  167.  Numbers  the  people,  190.  Exhorts  the 
Israelites,  192.  Delivers  his  book  to  the  Levites,  ib.  Dies  in  mount  Abu- 
rim,  ib.  Where  buried,  ib.  His  character  and  conduct  examined,  193. 
Had  no  selfish  views,  ib.  His  manner  of  leading  the  Israelites  considered, 
194.  True  reason  of  his  keeping  them  so  long  in  the  wilderness,  195. 
Must  have  been  directed  by  God  in  the  prospects  he  set  before  them,  ib. 
Character  given  of  him  by  modern  deists,  197.  His  divine  mission  proved 
from  the  facts  recorded  by  him,  198.  Those  facts  unquestionably  true, 
ib.  Could  not  have  deceived  the  Israelites,  199.  The  impartiality  of  his 
history  proved  from  his  account  of  the  rebellions  of  the  people,  204.  Not 
partial,  even  to  his  own  character,  206.'  Would  not  have  given  WTitten 
laws,  except  by  divine  command,  207.  The  first  who  gave  written  laws, 
209  Some  particulars  in  his  laws  considered,  211 — 214.  His  account 
of  the  creation  different  from  that  of  the  Egyptians,  iv,  11.  Wrote  a  real 
history  of  the  origin  of  mankind,  67.  His  history  differs  from  the  Egyp- 
tian philosophy,  70.  Brings  Adam  into  the  world  in  the  most  natural 
manner,  92.  His  relation  of  the  beginning  of  our  first  parents'  lives  not 
fal)ul()us,  95.  Shows  that  man  was  not  left  insufficiently  provided  for,  108. 
His  account  of  the  forbidden  tree,  literally  interpreted,  agreeable  to  all 
revealed  religion,  118.  His  garden  of  Eden  not  a  fictitious  scene,  123. 
Speaks  of  hills  more  ancient  than  tlie  deluge,  126.    Ills  Eden  might  re- 


INDEX.  235 

main  In  its  primitive  situation  after  the  flood,  128.  His  description  of  the 
garden  considered,  132.  His  Paradise  not  placed  in  an  obscure  part  of 
the  earth,  134.    Afraid  of  his  rod  when  turned  into  a  serpent,  177. 

Mount  Seir,  where  situate,  ii,  128. 

Mountains  coeval  with  the  world,  iv,  126.  Their  great  height  no  argument 
against  the  rotundity  of  the  earth,  12r. 

Murder,  no  express  law  against,  before  the  flood,  i,  37.  After  the  flood,  to  be 
punished  with  death,  80. 

JIuses,  thought  to  have  been,  originally  but  three,  iii,  60. 

Music,  when  invented,  ii,  239. 

Mythologists,  their  extravagant  fictions,  Iii,  58.  Their  accounts  of  persons  said 
to  be  descended  from  the  gods,  upon  what  founded,  66.  Latin,  their  fa- 
ble about  Prometheus,  81.    Greek,  their  fable  about  Prometheus,  82. 

ifythology,  some  account  of  the  Egyptian,  ii,  199.  Not  so  early  as  the  time 
of  Moses,  iv,  6. 


N. 

Nadab  and  Abihii,  their  deaths,  iii,  114.    Wherein  their  crime  consisted,  115. 

Nabonassar,  first  corrects  the  Babylonian  year,  i,  9. 

Nakedness  of  the  Israelites,  absurd  fancies  concerning,  iii,  94.  Of  our  first  pa- 
rents, what  meant  by,  iv,  163. 

Name  of  God  enquired  by  Moses,  ii,  243.  His  nature  discovered  by  his  name, 
246,    I  AM  THAT  I  AM,  explained,  247. 

Names,  famous  men  in  Egypt  called  by  those  of  their  gods,  ii,  202.  Divers 
names  given  to  the  same  person,  203.  One  name  used  for  several  persons, 
ib.  Heathen  and  rabbinical  notions  about  them,  243.  Not  arbitrarily 
given  in  early  times,  245.     Human  names  not  always  rightly  given,  246. 

S*oi,  does  not  always  signify  a  temple,  ii,  216. 

Naphtuhim,  king  of  Memphis,  i,  133.  First  taught  architecture,  physic,  and 
anatomy,  ib. 

Naturalists,  their  phenomena  of  the  deluge,  how  to  be  accounted  for,  iv,  1 30. 

Neptune,  probably  an  inventor  of  shipping,  ii,  162.  Assisted  Jupiter  in  govern- 
ing his  kingdom,  iii,  71.  His  dispute  with  Minerva  about  the  Athenians, 
75.   Settles  in  the  island  Atlantis,  86. 

Newton,  Sir  Isaac,  examination  of  his  chronologj-,  ii,  7.  His  argument  con- 
cerning the  lengtli  of  the  reigns  of  the  ancient  kings,  answered,  16.  Con- 
futation of  his  argument  respecting  the  Assyrian  kings,  23. 

Nimrod,  king  at  Babel,  i,  117.  Did  not  engage  in  war,  118.  Origin  of  his 
authority,  ib.,  ii,  83.     Not  the  same  person  with  Belus,  or  Ninus,  i,  122. 

Nineveh,  built  by  Ashur,  i,  125, 

Ninus,  second  king  of  Assyria,  i,  119,  First  practised  war,  j6.,  ii,  90.  Con- 
temporary with  Abraham,  ii,  66. 

Ninyas,  successor  to  Semiramis,  i,  121.  Ti»e  same  with  Chedorlaomer,  ii,  50, 
Contemporai-y  with  Abraham,  66. 

Noah  enters  the  ark,  i,  41.    Quits  it  again,  71,    Animal  food  first  granted  t» 


236  INDEX. 

him,  T7.  Never  came  to  Shinaar,  80.  Called  Fohi  by  the  Chinese,  82 
Settled  to  the  north  of  India,  ib.  When  his  descendants  came  to  Shinaar, 
83.  Probable  that  he  had  a  knowledge  of  letters,  142.  Founder  of  the 
first  polity,  ii,  71.  Taught  mankind  agi-iculture,  75.  Tlan  upon  whicli 
he  probably  erected  his  government,  76.  Father,  priest,  and  king  to  his 
people,  81. 

Numa,  not  willing  to  leave  his  sacred  books  to  posterity,  iii,  208. 

Nyctimus,  successor  of  Lycaon  in  the  kingdom  of  Arcadia,  iii,  77 ■ 

0. 

Ogyges,  king  of  Attica,  ii,  181.    The  flood  of,  probably  the  universal  deluge 

182. 
Ophiogenes,  their  supposed  abilities  to  cure  the  bite  of  serpents,  iii,  169. 
Opinion,  human,  hard  to  distinguish  from  real  truth,  iv,  205. 
Ops,  who  the  person  so  called,  iii,  58 .  Travelled  from  Crete  into  Phrygia,  86. 

Called  also  Uhea  and  Cybele,  ib.     Never  worshipped  in  Crete,  87. 
Origin  of  image  worship,  ii,  207. 

Orus,  the  Egyptian,  thought  to  become  the  star  Orion,  ii,  196. 
Osiris,  how  represented  by  images,  ii,  210. 
Ouranus.  king  of  Crete,  iii,  56. 
Ovid,  his  fable  of  Cadmus  sowing  the  serpent's  teeth,  explained,  ii,  17(5. 

P. 

Palladium,  no  such  idol  in  the  days  of  iEneas,  i,  202. 

Panuthenaean  games,  instituted  by  Hellen,  ii,  191. 

Pupists,  chargeable  with  idolatry,  iii,  98. 

Pai-ents,  our  first,  had  no  excuse  for  tlieir  transgression,  iv,  157.  Why  not 
permitted  to  escape  death.  196.  Not  driven  out  of  the  garden  instantly 
after  their  transgression,  200.  After  the  fall,  would  naturally  think  it  de- 
cent to  be  clothed,  202. 

Passover,  its  institution,  ii,  273. 

Pastor  kings  of  Egypt,  their  conquest  of  that  country,  ii,  153.  Probably  were 
the  Horites,  155.    Date  of  their  invasion,  156.     Oppress  the  Israelites,  ih. 

Paternal  autliority,  deference  paid  to,  by  ancient  legislators,  ii,  89. 

Pathrusim,  king  of  Thebes,  i,  134.  Author  of  the  Egyptian  learning,  135. 
His  death,  165. 

Pelasgus,  first  king  of  Arcadia,  ii,  181. 

Pentateuch,  arguments  in  defence  of  its  having  been  written  by  IMoses,  iii,  21. 

Persians,  at  first  worshippers  of  the  true  God,  i,  181.  In  what  manner  they 
corrupted  their  religion,  194. 

Person,  one  to  descend  from  the  woman,  who  should  conquer  the  great  enem.\- 
of  mankind,  iv,  181. 

Pharaoh,  iiis  opinion  of  the  miracles  of  Moses,  ii,  233.  Refuses  to  pai't  with 
the  Israelites,  2^7.    His  object  in  requiring  his  magicians  to  work  rtiiw- 


INDEX.  237 

cles,  258.    His  Impious  obstinacy,  268.    This  hardness  of  heart  not  prcr- 
duced  in  him  by  God,  270.     His  rage  against  Moses,  272.    llesolves  to 
pursue  the  Israelites,  278.    Is  overwhelmed  with  all  his  army  in  the  Red 
Sea,  279.     What  king  of  that  name  perished  in  this  manner,  iii,  128. 
Pharaoh's  dreams  interpreted  by  Joseph,  ii,  140. 
Pharaoh's  daughter,  adopts  Moses,  ii,  219. 

Philistines,  idolatry  of,  i,  199.    True  worshippers  of  God  in  the  days  of  Abra- 
ham, 183.     Whence  their  strength  and  increase  of  people,  iii,  256. 
Philo,  the  Jew,  his  observation  upon  the  Jewish  law,  iii,  208. 
Philosophy,  speculative,  first  corrupted  religion,  5,  207.    True,  will  teach  us 

to  think  the  useful  inventions  of  life  were  given  by  God,  iv,  201. 
Phinehas,  kill  Zimri  and  Cozbi,  iii,  185.     That  action  considered,  186,  &c. 
Phocus,  king  of  Phocis,  ii.  182. 
Phoenician  alphabets,  specimens  of,  i,  152,  153. 
Phoenicians,  not  the  inventors  of  letters,  i,  139. 
Phoroneus,  first  taught  the  Greeks  to  kindle  fire,  iii,  82. 
Phut,  the  son  of  Ham,  settles  in  Arabia,  i,  113. 
Physic,  studied  early  in  Egypt,  ii,  234. 
Physicians,  first  mention  of  them  in  Scripture,  ii,  235.    In  whiit  their  practice 

at  first  consisted,  236. 
Pictures,  not  the  first  letters,  ii,  201. 

Pillar  of  the  cloud  before  the  Israelites,  not  an  artificial  signal,  iii,  198, 
Pillar  of  light,  said  to  attend  the  march  of  Thrasybulus,  what  proof  we  have 

of  it,  iii,  199. 
Pillars,  the  most  ancient  idols,  i,  200. 

Plato,  his  opinion  about  the  names  of  the  heathen  gods,  ii,  246.    His  advice, 
in  order  to  know  the  names  of  the  gods,  ib.    His  account  of  Prometheus, 
how  to  be  understood,  iii,  82. 
Pliny,  method  to  cure  bitter  waters,  recorded  by  him,  iii,  34. 
Plutarch,  his  opinion  about  the  heathen  hero-gods,  ii,  197.    His  explanation 

of  the  Delphian  inscription,  248. 
Pluto,  invented  funeral  rites,  iii,  57.  Assisted  his  brother  Jupiter  in  governing 

his  kingdom,  71.     At  Jupiter's  death  settled  in  Tartarus,  85. 
Poll,  first  and  second  taken  ai  Sinai,  iii,  1 10,  1 17.    A  third  taken  in  the  plains 

of  Moab,  190. 
Polycaon,  king  of  Messene,  ii,  182. 
Polysyllables,  a  conjecture  about  the  rise  of  them,  i,  96. 
Pope,  Mr.,  examination  of  some  sentiments  in  his  Essay  on  Man,  iv,  44, 
Prideaux,  Dean,  his  opinion  of  the  interpolations  in  the  Scriptures,  iii,  260, 
Priestcraft,  did  not  rule  the  heathen  world,  ii,  93. 

Priesthood,  first  settlement  of  the  Roman,  ii,  93.  Of  the  Grecian,  95.  Of  the 
Asiatic,  99.  The  Egyptian  not  so  extravagant  as  some  have  imagined, 
103.  The  Asiatic,  not  so  exorbitant  as  has  been  represented,  104. 
Priests,  not  .appointed  amongst  the  Indians  in  early  ages,  ii,  80.  Their  qualifi- 
cations amongst  the  early  Romans,  9:3.  Kings  and  rulers  performed  the 
priestly  duties  amongst  the  early  Greeks,  95.    More  numerous  in  Egv-pt 

Vol.  IV.  Hh 


238  INDEX. 

than  in  other  nations,  99.  Disputes  between  those  of  Egypt  ami  Abraham 
on  the  subject  of  Religion,  115.  Their  lands  not  bought  by  Joseph,  and 
wliy,  141. 

Princes  of  the  tribes  appointed,  iii,  117. 

Prohibition  given  to  our  first  parents,  considered,  iv,  157. 

Prometheus,  time  in  wliich  he  lived,  ii,  181.  Fable  relating  to  him  examined, 
iii,  81.  In  what  he  offended  Jupiter,  83.  What  punishment  Jupiter  in- 
flicted on  him,  84. 

Prophecies,  the  design  of  them,  iv,  173.  Spoken  by  God  to  our  first  parents, 
enlarged  by  the  prophecies  in  after-ages,  174.  Full  event  of  them  not 
known  until  fulfilled,  ib. 

Prophets,  false,  their  origin,  ii,  98.  True,  did  not  always  understand  their 
own  prophecies,  iv,  173. 

Proseuchx,  used  in  the  time  of  Abraham,  i,  181. 

Providence,  has  an  unexpected  influence  on  the  affairs  of  men,  ii,  241. 

Psylli,  their  supposed  abilities  to  cure  the  bite  of  sei-pents,  iii,  169. 

Purification,  a  part  of  the  ancient  religion,  ii,  266,  ?i. 

Pyramids,  eighteen,  by  whom  built,  i,  165. 

Python,  who,  fable  of  Apollo's  killing  him,  iii,  85. 


Q. 

Quails,  given  to  the  Israelites,  when  in  distress  for  food,  iii,  35.    Common  on 

the  coast  near  the  Red  Sea,  id. 
Queens,  opinion  of  the  ancients  respecting  their  right  to  govern,  ii,  106.  Their 

reigns  generally  glorious,  107. 

R. 

Rabbins,  tlieir  fictions  about  the  manna,  iii,  35.  Concerning  the  well  at  Beer, 
42. 71.  Their  defence  of  Aaron  about  the  golden  calf,  90.  Their  whim- 
sical interpretation  of  Numb,  xiv,  9,  122. 

Rahab,  her  behaviour  to  the  spies  considered,  iii,  214 — 216.  Alive  when  the 
book  of  Joshua  was  written,  258.  Afterwards  married  to  a  prince  of 
Judah,  ib. 

Raleigh,  Sir  Walter,  his  opinion  of  the  conduct  of  Moses,  ii,  277. 

Reason,  unassisted  by  Revelation,  could  not  in  the  most  early  times  lead  men 
to  true  religion,  ii,  206.  Proneness  of  mankind  to  follow  its  dictates  in 
l)reference  to  the  commands  of  God,  iii,  99.  Not  a  sufficient  guide  to 
man,  iv,  108. 

Rebekah,  her  opinion  of  Jacob  better  grounded  than  Isaac's,  ii,  121. 

Rectitude  in  which  Adam  was  created,  what,  iv,  105. 

Refuge,  cities  of,  appointed,  iii,  253. 

Religion,  of  the  antediluvians,  i,  51.  Of  Abraham,  what,  172.  Of  the  several 
nations  with  whom  he  sojourned,  181.    Of  the  Persians,  ib.    Of  the  Chal- 


INDEX.  239 

deans,  183.  Of  the  Arabians,  ib.  Of  the  Canaanites,  ib.  Of  the  Egyp- 
tians,  1 84.  General  agreement  respecting  it  in  the  early  ages  of  the  world 
185.  The  ancient  heathen,  derived  from  that  of  Abraham,  187.  In  what  way 
the  true  religion  was  at  first  departed  from,  ib.  Kings  the  first  corrupters  of 
it,  203.  Revelation,  not  reason,  the  origin  of  the  true  religion,  206.  Re- 
ligion anciently  considered  as  a  positive  institution  of  God,  ii,  100.  Dis- 
putes respecting  it  between  Abraham  and  the  Egyptian  priests,  115. 
What  introduced  into  Greece  by  the  Egyptians,  192. 

Rephidim,  place  so  called,  where,  iii,  38. 

Revelation,  had  there  been  none  in  the  early  times,  men  would  not  for  ages 
have  attained  just  sentiments  of  God  and  his  worship,  ii,  207.  Necessity 
and  certainty  of,  iv,  25.  The  origin  of  all  our  information,  62.  Made  to 
man  as  soon  as  created,  114. 

Ridicule,  not  a  just  way  to  determine  what  is  true,  or  what  is  false,  iv,  157. 

Riphath,  settled  near  Paphlagonia,  i,  107. 

River  that  watered  the  garden  of  Eden,  its  description,  iv,  136.  Gihon  and 
Pison  known  to  the  author  of  the  book  of  Ecclesiasticus,  138. 

Rivers  Pison  and  Gihon  not  mentioned  by  profane  geographers,  iv,  139, 

Rock  at  Horeb  produces  water  for  the  Israelites,  iii,  58.  Erroneously  supposed 
to  have  followed  them,  ib.. 

Romans,  their  treatment  of  the  Carthaginians  not  to  be  justified^  iii,  235. 

Rome,  at  first  an  elective  monarchy,  ii,  21. 

Romulus,  first  formed  the  Roman  year,  i,  10. 


s. 


Sabbath,  order  of  the,  amongst  the  Israelites,  iii,  7. 

Sabta,  where  he  settled  at  the  dispersion,  i,  112. 

Sabtecha,  settled  in  Arabia,  i,  112. 

Sacrifices  originally  of  divine  appointment,  i,  53,  74.    Animals  used  for  this 

purpose  from  the  time  of  Adam,  72.    Several  sorts  of,  in  Abraham's  days, 

177.     What  animals  used  for,  in  his  time,  180.     Origin  and  use  of,  iv,  48. 

Nature  and  design  of  that  offered  by  Abel,  ib.    Not  the  invention  of 

men,  57.    Institution  of,  245. 
Salatis,  the  first  of  the  Pastor  Kings  of  Egypt,  ii,  153.    His  oppression  of  the 

Israelites,  156. 
Samaritan  alphabets,  specimens  of,  i,  151. 
Sanchoniatho,  his  account  of  the  antediluvians,  i,  42.  Of  Chronus  sacrificing 

his  son,  ii,  60.     Time  when  he  lived,  iv,  7.    His  account  of  the  ancient 

Egyptian  theology,  9. 
Satan,  his  being  permitted  to  have  a  power  to  cause  the  serpent  to  speak, 

contradicts  no  principle  of  true  philosophy,  iv,  148. 
Saturn,  king  of  Crete,  iii,  55.     Marries  his  sister  Rhea,  58.     Meaning  of  the 

fable  of  his  devouring  his  children,  59.     His  reign,  why  called  the  golden 

age,  70.    How  far  he  civilized  his  people,  79. 


340  INDEX. 

Saviour,  our,  his  divinity  proved  from  the  Old  Testament,  ii,  256.  Proved  to 
be  the  seed  of  the  woman,  promised  to  our  first  parents,  iv,  180 — 184. 

Sca%er,  his  mistake  about  the  time  of  Cecrops,  ii,  170. 

Scholiast  upon  Callimachus,  his  remark  upon  the  inscription  on  the  tomb  of 
Jupiter,  iii,  79. 

Science,  natural,  grows  by  experience  and  observation,  iv,  99. 

Scripture  and  philosophy  agree  as  to  the  nature  of  man,  iv,  199. 

Scriptures,  appear  to  have  been  in  some  places  interpolated,  i,  198;  ii,  151 ; 
iii,  260.  Give  no  countenance  to  the  idea,  that  serpents  might  be  charmed, 
iii,  171  On  the  various  readings  of,  iv,  28 — 37.  Internal  proofs  of  their 
divine  origin,  39,  40  Teach  us,  that  revelation,  and  not  philosophy,  is 
the  origin  of  all  our  information,  62. 

Sculpture  the  rudeness  of  it,  no  argument  for  the  antiquity  of  the  Egyptian 
images,  ii,  207. 

Seba,  where  he  lived,  i,  112. 

Seed  of  the  woman,  meaning  of  that  phrase,  iv,  180 — 184. 

Seir,  the  ancient  inhabitants  of,  ii,  134.  Conquered  by  the  children  of  Esau, 
135, 

Semele,  mother  of  Bacchus,  by  Jupiter,  iii,  78. 

Semiramis,  queen  of  Babylon,  i,  119.  Attempts  the  conquest  of  India,  120. 
Opinion  of  Herodotus  concerning  her  antiquity,  ii,  24.  Contemporary 
with  Abraham,  66. 

Sensuality  of  nature  in  every  natural  descendant  of  our  first  parents,  ii,  173. 

Septuagint,  the  additions  therein  to  the  last  chapter  of  Job,  ii,  117. 

Serpent,  used  very  few  words  to  Eve,  except  what  she  and  Adam  had  heard 
from  God,  iv,  79.  Meaning  of  its  name,  144.  Did  not  tempt  Eve  when 
alone,  145.  Did  not  speak  of  itself,  146.  Did  not  change  its  nature  on 
that  occasion,  147.  Nor  its  form,  169.  Import  of  the  curse  pronounced 
upon  it,  169 — 186.     Reckoned  among  the  beasts  of  the  field,  176. 

Serpents,  fiery,  the  Israelites  destroyed  by,  iii,  167.  Different  kinds  of,  men- 
tioned, 168.  Charms  used  by  the  heathens  for  the  cure  of  their  bite,  169. 
Not  originally  destroyed  by  mankind,  iv,  175.  Highly  honoured  in  early 
times,  178.     After  the  flood  became  terrible  to  mankind,  177. 

Servitude,  how  it  began,  ii,  85. 

Sesac,  probably  the  same  with  Sesostris,  ii,  29. 

Sesostris,  probably  the  same  with  Sesac,  ii,  29.  Not  so  great  a  conqueror  as 
generally  supposed,  32.  Not  the  Indian  Bacchus,  72.  Extent  of  his 
conquests,  J i.  Did  not  live  in  the  time  of  .Moses,  iii,  125.  Not  the  bro- 
ther of  Danaus,  ib.  Nor  tlie  same  person  as  iEgyptus,  ib.  Not  the  son 
of  Pharaoh,  who  was  drowned  in  the  Red  Sea,  127. 

Seth'.s  jjillars,  Josepliu.s's  account  of,  i,  55. 

Shadow,  wliinisical  conceit  of  tlie  Rabbins  about  it,  iii,  122. 

Shafiesbui7,  Lord,  his  remarks  upon  the  Egyptian  priesthood,  considered,  ii, 
1 00.  Answer  to  his  remarks  on  Joseph's  not  purchasing  the  priests'  lands, 
142.     His  observations  on  Jcthro's  .id vice  to  Moses,  iii,  45. 

Sheba,  where  he  lived,  i,  113. 


INDEX.  341 

Shekel,  Jewish,  of  silver,  of  what  value,  iii,  110. 

Shem,  the  second  son  of  Noah,  i,  103.  Parts  of  the  world  settled  by  his  de- 
scendants, 107. 

Sicyon,  kingdom  of,  began  when,  ii,  180. 

Sigean  inscription,  fac  similes  of,  i,  159.  160,  161. 

Sihon,  king  of  the  Amorites,  defeated  by  the  Israelites,  iii,  175. 

Slavery,  prohibited  amongst  the  Indians  in  the  earliest  ages,  ii,  80.  Prejudicial 
to  the  commonwealth,  84.    Its  origin,  85. 

Sleep,  into  which  Adam  was  cast,  considered,  iv,  89. 

Sodom  destroyed,  ii,  54. 

Spencer,  Dr.  his  mistake  about  the  origin  of  the  Jevi^ish  rites  and  ceremonies, 
i,  187;  ii,  217.    Answer  to  his  remarks  on  Ezekiel  xx,  26,  iii,  108. 

Spies,  the  twelve,  sent  out  by  Moses,  iii,  121. 

Spirits,  evil,  not  concerned  in  the  ancient  magic,  ii,  229.  The  scene  of  their 
demerit  not  fully  known  to  us,  iv,  154. 

Statutes  not  good,  no  part  of  the  ritual  law,  iii,  100.  What  these  statutes  were, 
and  when  given,  106. 

Strabo's  geography,  when  composed,  iv,  139. 

Strata,  those  occasioned  by  the  deluge,  no  proof  against  Moses's  description 
of  the  garden  of  Eden,  iv,  128. 

Sun,  miracle  of  its  standing  still  at  the  command  of  Joshua,  iii,  237.  Re- 
markably pertinent  to  the  circumstances  both  of  the  Israelites  and  Ca- 
naanites,  ib.  Astronomical  objections  against  the  truth  of  this  miracle, 
answered,  238.  Not  unobserved  by  the  heathen  astronomers,  240.  Occa- 
sioned the  fable  of  Phaeton,  241.  The  Chinese  accounts  of  it,  242.  Could 
not  be  a  mere  vapour  in  the  air,  243.  Other  objections  to  it  answered, 
ib. 

Syncellus,  account  of  his  Chronographia,  iii,  148. 

S\T)his,  king  of  Egypt,  his  speculations  upon  religious  subjects,  i,  188 ;  ii,  117. 
Pretended  to  have  had  divine  revelations  made  to  him,  188,  Date  of  his 
reign,  ii,  115, 

T. 

Taautus,  the  second  of  that  name,  author  of  the  sacred  animals  and  hiero- 
glyphics of  Egypt,  ii,  200. 

Tabernacle  finished,  iii,  110.  And  set  up,  112.  A  visible  demonstration  given 
of  its  having  been  directed  by  God,  113.  Purpose  for  which  it  was  made, 
ib.  First  structure  in  the  world  for  the  purposes  of  religion,  ib. ;  ii,  215. 
Erected  at  the  division  of  Canaan,  when  and  why,  246,  247. 

Table  of  Isis,  described,  ii,  211. 

Tables  of  the  kings  of  Egypt,  iii,  152,  153,  158, 

Tangier,  inscription  said  to  have  been  found  there,  iii,  254, 

Tarshish  planted  in  Cilicia,  i,  105, 

Tartarus,  where  situate,  iii,  56. 

Tax,  laid  upon  the  Israelites  towards  building  the  tatjeniacle,  iii,  11  a. 


242  INDEX. 

Temples,  none  built  by  Cecrops,  Cadmus,  or  Danaus,  ii,  215.  None  erected 
before  the  Jewish  tabernacle,  ib.  Not  large  when  first  built,  216.  Made 
no  great  figure  in  Homer's  time,  ib.  Solomon's  much  larger  than  any 
then  in  the  world,  217. 

Terah,  not  the  inventor  of  images,  i,  201. 

Texts  of  Scripture,  cited  and  explained,  iv,  311. 

Thales,  first  corrected  the  Greek  year,  i,  10;  ii,  10.  Imperfection  of  his  astro- 
nomical knowledge,  ii,  12.         * 

Thebes,  in  Egypt,  when  built,  i,  131. 

Themis,  who  the  person  so  called,  iii,  85. 

Thermopyla,  meaning  of  that  word,  ii,  187. 

Thessalus,  king  of  Thessaly,  ii,  181. 

This,  a  kingdom  in  Egypt,  i,  165. 

Thusimares,  the  king,  who  advanced  Joseph,  ii,  147- 

Tillage  of  the  ground  a  laborious  employment  for  Adam,  iv,  187. 

Tiras,  the  father  of  the  Thracians,  i,  107. 

Titans,  whom,  iii,  57.  Opposed  Jupiter,  75.  Men  of  a  most  excellent  cha- 
racter, ib. 

Togarmah,  where  he  lived,  i,  103. 

Tomes  of  Manetho,  some  account  of,  iii,  133. 

Tower  of  Belus,  description  of,  ii,  163. 

Tree,  whether  any  one  could  naturally  cure  the  waters  at  Marah,  iii,  33. 

Tree  of  knowledge,  sufficiently  distinguished  from  all  others  by  its  situation, 
iv,  92.  Prohibition  of,  the  rule  for  our  first  parents  walking  humbly  with 
God,  205. 

Tree  of  life,  had  our  first  parents  not  sinned,  whether  it  would  have  sufficed 
mankind  unto  all  ages,  iv,  203. 

Ti'ibes  of  Israel,  the  situation  of  their  inheritances  in  Canaan,  iii.  247.  Where 
their  lands  were  situate,  not  to  be  now  exactly  ascertained,  251.  The 
two  tribes  and  a  half  build  an  altar  at  Jordan,  253.  • 

Truth,  the  word  of  God  the  rule  of,  iv,  205. 

Tubal,  where  he  lived,  i,  103. 

Typho,  called  the  Bear  star,  ii,  196, 

u. 

'  Usher,  archbishop,  his  date  of  the  birth  of  Judah  considered,  ii,  152,  153. 

V. 

Vaticination,  whence  tlie  learned  heathens  thought  it  to  proceed,  ii,  232. 
Venephes,  a  king  of  Egypt,  i,  165.     Supposed  to  have  built  eighteen  pyrar 
mids,  ib. 
♦   Virtue  and  vice  cannot  exist  where  there  is  no  choice,  iv,  159. 

Vitringa,  on  the  tree  of  the  knowledge  of  good  and  evil,  iv,  209.     Why  the 


INDEX.  243 

tree  was  so  called,  ib.    Not  so  called  in  reference  to  the  fall  of  man,  210. 
Placed  in  the  garden  for  the  purpose  of  trial,  212.    Of  instruction,  213. 
And  as  a  sacramental  pledge,  ib. 
Vulcan,  settled  at  Lemnos,  iii,  86. 

w. 

Water,  miraculously  produced  at  Horeb,  iii,  38.  Did  not  follow  the  Israelites 
through  the  wilderness,  42. 

Waters,  bitter,  at  Marah,  iii,  32.  How  such  waters  were  cured  by  the  hea- 
then, 34. 

Wilderness,  not  absolutely  without  water,  iii,  39.     What  sort  of  place,  195. 

Words,  in  themselves  mere  sounds,  iv,  42,  74.  Do  not  convey  to  us  the 
speaker's  intention  till  we  have  learned  their  meaning,  ib.  Never  before 
heard,  could  not  natiu'ally  be  understood  at  first  hearing,  ib.  Those 
spoken  by  the  serpent  to  Eve  not  metaphorical,  78.  Those  recorded  by 
Moses,  not  the  very  words  spoken  by  the  serpent,  79,  n. 

World,  not  from  eternity,  iv,  67.  Its  origin  known  only  from  the  history  of 
Moses,  ib.  Of  the  same  appearance  before  the  flood  as  after,  128.  Not 
everywhere  broken  by  the  deluge,  ib. 

Worship  of  the  heavenly  bodies,  its  origin,  189.  Of  images,  i,  200.  Religious, 
duty  of  magistrates  to  establish,  ii,  105.  Of  heroes,  when  established, 
and  why,  194,  195.    Of  images,  origin  of,  207. 

Writing,  the  manner  of  it  amongst  the  ancients,  i,  150,  &c. 

X. 

Xerxes,  his  answer  to  Pythius  the  Lydian,  ii,  91. 


Year,  probable  length  of,  before  the  Flood,  i,  8,  First  corrected  in  Egj'pt,  ib. 
The  Babylonian,  9.  The  Median,  ib.  The  Grecian,  10.  The  Roman,  11. 
The  Jewish,  ib.  The  ancient,  not  so  long  as  the  present  Julian,  12.  Fa- 
bulous account,  given  by  the  Egyptians,  of  the  additions  made  to  it,  14,  n. 
iii,  9.  The  antediluvian  year  not  lunar,  48,  The  Jewish,  how  computed, 
iii,  6.    Of  Jubilee,  when  to  be  kept,  211,  ?«. 

Years,  Sabbatical  and  Jubilee,  some  account  of,  211,  n. 

z. 

Zathraustes  and  Zamolxis  compared  with  Moses,  iii,  201- 
Zelophehad.  case  of  the  inheritance  of  his  daughters,  iii,  190. 
Zimri,  slain  by  Phlnehas,  iii,  185. 
Zoroastres,  or  Oxyartes,  a  king  of  Bactria,  i,  119. 


TEXTS    OF   SCRIPTURE 


CITED  AND  EXPLAINED. 


Genesis  i,  14 

26 

27 

29 

31 

ii,  6 

8 

9 

10 

15 

16,  17 

18 

19 

20 

21 

24 

iii,  I 

5 

7 

11 

15 

21 

22 

iv,  1 

7 

11,12, 

23 

26 

V,  29 

ix,  2 

X,  11 

32 

xii,  7 

8 

XV,  12,  16 

Vol.  IV. 


14 


Page. 

ii,  77 

iv,  102 

iv,  67 

iv,  71 

iv,  68 

iv,  69 

iv,  70 

iv,  194 

iv,  136 

iv,  188 

iv,  108 

iv,  73 

iv,  83 

iv,  86 

iv,  89 

iv,  206 

iv,  98 

iv,  77 

iv,  164 

iv,  168 

i,  173 

iv,  200 

iv,  196 

ii,  254 

i,  36 

i,  37 

i,  39 

,  53;  ii,  254 

i,   78 

ii,  83 

i,  125 

i,  99 

i,  176 

ii,  115 

iv,  90 

Ii 


246 


INDEX. 


Gen.      XV, 

16 

xvii, 

1 

xviii, 

1 

XX, 

16 

xxi, 

15 

33 

xxii, 

18 

xxvi, 

16 

24 

xxvii, 

35,  36 

40 

xxviii, 

21 

XXX, 

33 

xxxi. 

43 

xxxii, 

28 

30 

xxxiii, 

19 

XXXV, 

2 

9 

xxxvi. 

whole 

xli, 

43 

xliii. 

32 

xliv. 

5 

xlvi. 

8 

15 

27 

34 

xlvii. 

22 

xlviii, 

22 

xlix, 

13 

Exodus    i, 

10 

chapter 


V, 

vi, 
vii, 

idii, 

ix, 

xi, 


21 
13 

14,  15 
11 
21 

2 

3 

3 

9,  10 

9 
19 
12 

1 

3 

8 
10 

1 
35 


12 


i,  r 


INDEX. 


Exodus  xii,  40 

xiv,  18 

XV,  25 

xvi,  16 

xvii,  16 

xix,    5 

xxiii,    8 

32 

xxiv,  10 

11 

xxxii,  24 

25 

26,  27, 
35 
Leviticus  x,   3 

8,  9 

19 

xvii,  10,  11 

xix,  31 

XX,  27 

Numb,    iii,  39 

xi,  22 

29 

31 

xii,     1 

XV,  39 

xxi,     4 

xxi,  11—20 

xxii,  20 

22 

xxiii,    1 

xxiv,  24 

XXV,  12 

13 

xxxiii,  44,  47 

54 

Deut.       iv,  15 

vii,    1,  2,  5 
ix,  21 
xii,  11,  12 
xviii,  10,  11 
XX,  10,  &c. 
11 
xxviii,  60 
xxxii,    8 
39 
xxxiv,     6 
Joshua   iv,  18 
V,    9 
11 


28 


16, 


&c. 


247 

Page, 

ii,  275 

ii,  250 

iii,     31 

iii,     36 

iii,     43 

iii,  102 

iv,     79 

iii,  232 

iii,     49 

iii,     51 

iii,     90 

iii,     92 

iii,     92 

iii,     90 

iii,  116 

iii,  114 

iii,  115 

i,     78 

ii,  230 

ii,  230 

iii,  118 

iv,     87 

iii,  120 

iii,  120 

i,  112 

iii,  116 

iii,  166 

iii,  175 

iii,  177 

iii,  177 

ii,  228 

i,  105 

iii,  188 

iii,  189 

iii,  175 

iii,  247 

iii,     52 

iii,  231 

iii,     40 

i,     79 

ii,  229 

iii,  229 

iii,  233 

ii,  235 

i,     97 

iv,     33 

iii,  192 

iii,  217 

iii,  218,   221 

iii,  222 


248 


INDEX. 


eToshua      xi,  19,20 

xix,  47 

xxiv,     1 

2 

Judges    xxi,  14 

1  Sam.  XX vi,  12 

1  Kings    ix,  ai 

xviii,   36 

2  Kings      V,  11 

xviii,  25 
xix,     9 

1  Chron.     i,   35 — 54 

V,     1,  2 
xi,  18 

2  Chron.    ii,  16 

viii,     7,  8 
Job  iv,   13,  15,  16 

XV,      7, 
xxxi,   26,  27 
xxxii,     8 
Psalm  1,     5 

Iviii,     4,  5 

Ixviii,  15 

Ixxviii,  16 — 20 

xc,     2 

xcv,   10 

civ,   16 

cv,  41 

cvi,  33 

cxix,  18 

142 

Prov.        iii,     5 

xvi,  10 

xix,    15 

Eccles.       x,     8 

Isaiah    xviii,     1 

Iii,     6 

Jerem.        v,     4,  5 

vii,  21 

22 

viii,  17 

xlvi,     9 

li,  27 

Ezek.     viii,  14 

XX,    11 

21,23 

26 

xxix,   10 

xxxviii,     2 

6 


INDEX. 


JJaniel 

via, 

Micah 
Wisd. 
Ecclus 

Matt. 

xi, 

vi, 

ix, 

xvii, 

xliv, 

John 

iii, 

IV, 

viii, 

Acts 

xvii, 
vii, 

Rom. 

xxvi. 

vii. 

ix, 

1  Cor. 


2  Cor. 

Gal. 
1  Tim. 
Heb. 


XI, 

viii, 
xi, 
iii, 

iii, 
vii, 
xi, 


Xii, 
1  Peter  i, 
1  John     iv. 


19,26 
29,  30 

8 
15 

5 
22,23 

2 

4 
10 
22 
18 
56 
17 
14 

7 
20 
26 

14,  15 
18,19 
6,7 

8 
11 

11,  12 
17,  18 
24 

4 
13 
10 
13,  14,  15 

3 
19 
14 

2 

6 

3 

3—6 

4 

5 

7 

17—19 
24 
31 

16,17 
20 
12 


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